Language barriers --- financial barriers

[Birgit Kellner]

Concerning the financial barrier, it is perhaps worthwhile to take 
notice of a growing movement towards making access to scholarly 
publications open (hence: "open access"), rapidly spreading in the 
natural sciences and also developing into a strategy that many research 
funding bodies in the West (including Japan) adopt in general. This 
movement arose mainly in response to changes in the journal publication 
market: large commercial publishing houses charge growing subscription 
rates to libraries, which makes it increasingly difficult for 
researchers to access literature.

Open access means ideally that scholarly publications are free of charge 
and available to everyone - usually in digital format, mostly in PDF. 
Research funding organizations (e.g. in Austria, I believe also in 
Germany) have also turned to encouraging (or even requiring) open access 
publication for the results of the projects they support.

Regardless of some problems that this creates (changes in financing 
models, mostly), it also creates, I think, great opportunities when it 
comes to making research accessible to colleagues in countries with an 
underdeveloped library infrastructure. It's worth thinking about in 
connection with the financial barriers that Michael Hahn so eloquently 
describes.

What I am wondering specifically in connection with Indological studies: 
whence the "enormous cost of publishing books an all types of 'oriental' 
topics in the so-called developed countries", as Michael Hahn puts it? 
Why, for instance, does the set of Oskar von Hinüber's "Kleine 
Schriften" that was recently announced cost 178 Euros? Do the publishers 
take such great care with editing, layout and design as to justify such 
a price? (The technology required to typeset books in Asian languages 
can no longer justify such prices.) And if not: Why do authors decide to 
publish with publishers when they know exorbitant prices will be charged 
for their books? Is it because the publication with a major established 
publisher is believed to make more impact than a cheaper publication 
with one that is lesser known? Is it the publisher's reputation that 
people hope will also reflect on the reputation of their books? Is it 
the expected professionality of distribution, is it a hope for fame? Is 
it just habit, a lack of knowledge that other possibilities might exist?

Curiously yours,

Birgit Kellner


Michael Hahn wrote:
> The recent contributions of Veeranarayana N.K. Pandurangi and Walter
> Slaje to the list touch a fundamental problem that affects the work of
> many scholars working in various of Indian Studies ("South Asian
> Studies", to be politically correct) and which should be mentioned here,
> if only brief: The factual existence of a two class system that is
> caused by two barriers which are indeed hard to overcome --- the
> financial barrier and the language barrier. The financial barrier is
> mainly caused by the enormous cost of publishing books on all types of
> "oriental" topics in the so-called developed countries. The result are
> prohibitive prices that put these publications out of the reach of most
> scholars. There are only a few places in the world --- in the North
> America, some European countries and Japan --- where researchers enjoy
> practically unimpeded access to the fruits of their colleagues' works,
> also thanks to a functioning interlibrary loan system. The second
> factor, the cost of an adequate technical equipment, is fortunately
> becoming less decisive because of the rapidly decreasing prices for
> computer hard and software and internet charges. The problem of the
> high prices of books and journals is at least partially overcome by the
> laudable enterprises of Indian and other Asian publishers who are on a
> large scale reprinting older important works and in an increasing
> number also recent publications, with the permission of the original
> publishers. And the costs of exchange of texts, documents and papers
> via the internet (occasionally in a legally grey or even dark zone)
> have also drastically dropped
>
> I have experienced both situations: to work in institutes with fairly
> well (or even excellently) equipped libraries during two of my
> assignments at German universities, as visiting scholar in the USA,
> England, or Japan, and to have to work with a small library and an
> entirely inadequate budget during my assignment at small university in
> Germany where I felt to be not much better of than my colleagues in
> India. The situation was partly made up through the exchange of
> publications with and the possibility of buying privately at least some
> of the books that the institute could not afford.
>
>
>