2023-11-21 21:40:25
Tanja Niemann, general director of the Érudit platform
Credit: Érudit
The result of master’s work in information sciences carried out at the University of Montreal by Guylaine Beaudry, who noted the lack of access to Quebec scientific journals remotely, Érudit has come a long way. “A production project was the origin of Érudit and the distribution component was added to meet a great need. Today, Érudit is considered a research infrastructure,” summarizes Tanja Niemann, its general director.
An evolving role
Born at the beginning of the Web, Érudit was first a platform to put online five journals from the Presses de l’Université de Montréal, which supported the project from its beginnings. But it’s not just a matter of putting the texts online, we ensure that the formats are indexable and readable by the devices. “We feel ready for the future, with the solid foundations and the vision put in place 25 years ago,” notes Tanja Niemann.
“Given the interest, there was the idea of sharing the tool with other journals and other universities,” says Gwendal Henry, communications advisor at Érudit. In 2004, a consortium between UdeM, Université Laval and the Université du Québec à Montréal was formed to support the production of Quebec research journals. The platform will continue to evolve and the fourth version is launched in 2017. “The technological environment is changing and we must continue to improve, for better referencing and better accessibility,” he notes. Every year, 10,000 new articles and histories are added to Érudit.
In addition, Érudit is recognized by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation as one of the 19 major Canadian infrastructures. “This is essential because, in the humanities, the text becomes an object of research,” explains Tanja Niemann. With partners, Érudit has created a corpus of texts that can be explored via Calcul Québec.
A local science in the local language
Without the support of Érudit, several small journals run at arm’s length by a handful of professor-researchers might hardly survive. By making room for these publications, which often work in silos, Érudit mobilizes university libraries and other stakeholders to “stabilize and give sustainability to this work around journals,” confides Tanja Niemann.
Érudit therefore has an essential function as an anchor point in the ecosystem of scholarly communication in French. Because the disappearance of these French-speaking journals would inevitably have repercussions on research subjects. “Large international journals are not necessarily interested in local issues,” notes the director. The team behind Érudit, which has acquired unique and solid expertise, provides daily support to the journals, but also to the users of the platform. “The journals benefit from our infrastructure and our services, they do not need to reinvent the wheel each on their own,” she recalls.
Reliable and free content
By centralizing content and offering services to French-speaking journals, Érudit therefore plays a major role in the world of human and social sciences research. “The content comes from journals, which are at the heart of science in French. We amplify everything,” says Tanja Niemann.
“Our mission is to promote local research,” she emphasizes. Érudit content is read and seen all over the world: 75% of browsing is done by foreign Internet users. Without barriers and easily downloadable even for those who do not have access to recent equipment or a fast connection, the content is accessible to both professionals and novices. “People find a validated source of information,” notes Gwendal Henry. During the pandemic, the platform was able to observe that the questions at the heart of the debates were reflected in its ranking of the most read articles.
Scholarly, for and by the community
In a context of major change in the subscription economic model, Érudit is banking on open access. Its source code is open and 97% of the hosted texts can be consulted for free. Around 3% of the content is accessible by subscription from libraries: “This allows sums to be returned to magazines so that they can, for example, pay their graphic designer or their editorial secretary,” says the advisor.
Researchers also do not pay to publish in journals on Érudit. “This is not viable in the humanities and social sciences,” says Tanja Niemann. It is therefore the close collaboration of university libraries which allows the financing and maintenance of this model. This is the big difference with commercial publishers, who make profits thanks to research produced with public money, in journals that are often run by researchers on a voluntary basis. “The goal is for public money to circulate to properly remunerate journal teams so that they can produce quality journals and train,” summarizes Gwendal Henry.
Continue to play your role
Around the world, similar platforms play an important role; It is by pooling these initiatives that independent open access publications will become stronger. In addition to its tireless battle for the production of content in French, Érudit is today considered the Canadian national platform for journals in the humanities and social sciences. It will therefore host magazines from across Canada, whether French-speaking, English-speaking or bilingual. “There is a crying need in English Canada too,” raises Tanja Niemann.
To reverse the balance of power with commercial publishers, the Érudit team wants universities to better recognize the importance of the work of local journals as a vehicle for science. “These magazines bring communities to life; we must encourage these publications in French,” concludes Gwendal Henry.
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