Academic book publishers play an important role in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). In this paper, we examine the extent to which academic books in Flanders, Belgium are concentrated in... Show moreAcademic book publishers play an important role in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). In this paper, we examine the extent to which academic books in Flanders, Belgium are concentrated in terms of their publishers. Using a data set of 26,896 books published by Flemish SSH scholars between 2000 and 2015, we investigate how evenly books are distributed over publishers. The results show that book publishing in Flanders is fairly concentrated and a relatively small number of publishers publish the majority of books. Concentration has increased over the course of years and is higher for peer-reviewed than for non-peer-reviewed books. Many publishers with a large share of books in the data set are local. Some disciplines are much more concentrated than others. Looking at the top publishers per discipline, it can be observed that most disciplines have a specific publisher profile. Show less
From 2013 – 2014 onwards, our group (ECOOM - UAntwerpen) has been monitoring Predatory Open Access publication patterns in Flemish (Belgium) SSH scholarship. In light of the Flemish Performance... Show moreFrom 2013 – 2014 onwards, our group (ECOOM - UAntwerpen) has been monitoring Predatory Open Access publication patterns in Flemish (Belgium) SSH scholarship. In light of the Flemish Performance Based Research Funding System, these screening exercises are conducted to assist university review boards with the decision-making processes concerning what is and what is not to be considered a peer reviewed periodical. Each year, the results of these monitoring exercises than, are published in as a report, and presented to the Authoritative Penal. In the introductory part of this essay, we will present a general background against which these yearly screenings emerged. Second, we will present the sources used and the methods deployed for the yearly screenings. Thereafter, we will shortly present the yearly results these exercises yielded. In the third section, we present a more comprehensive analysis of the results. We conclude with reflecting on the past exercises and the findings presented in this report, and discuss some implications for colleagues and scholars manoeuvring through the contemporary journal landscape. Show less
