Sian, Evans, Hilary Thompson, and Alex Watkins. "Discovering Open Access Art
History: A Comparative Study of the Indexing of Open Access Art Journal." The Serials
Librarian 61, no. 2 (Fall 2011), 168-188.
This is a preprint of an article submitted for consideration in the Serials Librarian © 2011
Taylor & Francis; The Serials Librarian is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/
abs/10.1080/0361526X.2011.592666
Discovering Open Access Art History:
A Comparative Study of the Indexing of Open Access Art Journals
by Siân Evans, Hilary Thompson, & Alex Watkins
Abstract
This article evaluates the indexing of open access art journals in four frequently utilized art
indexes: Art Full Text, ARTbibliographies Modern, Art & Architecture Complete, and
Bibliography of the History of Art/International Bibliography of Art. The authors also compare
the indexing of open access journals in Google Scholar to that in the traditional indexes
mentioned above and demonstrate that the commercial indexes currently lag behind Google
Scholar in terms of content coverage. This article argues that increased indexing of open access
art journals in the traditional, subject-specific indexes will be integral to their acceptance within
the discipline of art history.
Keywords: open access, indexing, digital humanities, art history journals, Google Scholar
Siân Evans received her M.A. in Art History from the University of Western Ontario in 2007,
and is currently pursing a M.S. Library & Information Science at Pratt Institute while working at
ARTstor. Hilary Thompson and Alex Watkins are both pursuing dual degrees in Library &
Information Science and History of Art & Design at Pratt Institute. This article was originally
written as a paper for the course LIS 631: Academic Libraries & Scholarly Communications,
taught by Dr. Deborah Rabina, Fall 2010 at Pratt Institute.
Email: siankevans@gmail.com ; hthom4186@gmail.com ; and alexwatkins@gmail.com
Evans, Thompson, Watkins 2
Introduction
The critical discourse around new media is still plagued by what Gary Hall has referred
to as a “dialectical ghost.”
1
Most scholars writing on the subject tend to fall into one of two
camps: technophiles or technophobes. Technophilia or web utopianism has marked the discourse
on web theory since its early days, and this trope has extended into the more specific
conversations surrounding open access and the digital humanities. On the other hand, there are
the Neil Postmans of the world reminding us of the pitfalls of emerging media and the potential
for all online presence to become absorbed into the realm of consumer marketing.
2
The digital
divide has, in many ways, become a cavern into which not only technological issues, but also
political, philosophical, and ethical issues fall.
Recent years have seen a rapid move towards digitization in the humanities. The fact that
digital natives are reaching college age and the popularity of online search databases such as
JSTOR and Google Scholar has forced a conversation about the role of online searching in the
humanities. It is a conversation that has even moved out of the ivory tower and planted itself in
popular dialogue. According to the New York Times, the “digital humanities” is an endeavor
worth millions of dollars to funders like Google, the National Endowment for the Arts, and
Europe's Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH).
3
It is a subject
academic superstars like Anthony Grafton are quotable on. It is, indeed, “one of the most
exciting developments in the humanities.”
4
Art historians, however, continue to find themselves on the wrong side of the digital
divide. The reasons generally cited for this disciplinary mutiny are manifold, although many of
Evans, Thompson, Watkins 3
them center on digital images. Art historians remain concerned about image quality in online
publications as well as the cost of copyright for image use. This concern translates into a
continued “love affair with print.”
5
Barriers to open access art history are even greater. As Malcolm Heath, Michael Jubb,
and David Robey have argued:
“Advocates of Open Access should be more aware of, and receptive to, the perspectives
of the arts and humanities disciplines, and extend their advocacy to the arts and
humanities community. For this to be possible, that community itself needs to develop a
broader and better-informed dialogue about its e-publication needs, and the access issues
associated with them.”
6
Because open access is a debate that has developed primarily in the sciences where there
are markedly different publication patterns and funding issues, art historians have largely been
able to ignore the terms of the discussion. Art history journals are less expensive, art historians'
research tends not to be government funded, and the hallmark of scholarship in the field is still
monograph publication. Therefore there has not been the same sense of urgency for change in the
arts as there has been in the sciences. As such, the debate remains relatively undeveloped.
Nonetheless, the crisis in scholarly publishing has already begun to hit the fields of art
and architecture. Between 2000 and 2004, for example, the number of arts-related titles
published by university presses declined by 16%.
7
As the “journal crisis” continues to affect the
humanities and as library budgets are slashed and subscriptions to art history periodicals are cut,
open access will likely become a flash point for discussion when potential avenues for defending
the arts and humanities are considered. Gary Hall has already argued that open access publishing
Evans, Thompson, Watkins 4
will be seen as a politico-ethical issue for scholars outside of the sciences.
8
Whether or not open
access publishing actually has the strategic potential Hall sees in it, in the current arts-hostile
academic climate, there is little use in art historians having their heads stuck in the analog sand.
Purpose & Scope of the Study
One of the primary means of making e-publishing and therefore open access publishing
visible to art historians is by subject-specific indexing. According to a 2008 study conducted by
the Getty Research Institute, art historians rely heavily on the use of the Bibliography of the
History of Art (BHA), Art Full Text, and ARTBibliographies Modern (ABM) in their research.
9
The purpose of this study is to measure the extent to which scholarly open access journals
in art history and the related fields are being indexed by commercial indexing services and
Google Scholar. Editorial policy factors such as language of publication, country of publication,
and number of years published where they are relevant have been taken into consideration and
discussed. It is also important to note that this study is limited to open access journals and does
not include individual articles that may be conceived of as “open access” because of self-
archiving or depositing in institutional repositories.
Literature Review
Digital Art History
A number of studies on the digital access to and use of art history periodicals have been
written in the past few years. In 2006 Rice University Press published two studies on scholarly
Evans, Thompson, Watkins 5
