A complex social and cultural process

As part of the EU CRAFT-OA project, the University Library of Bern conducted semi-structured interviews with journal publishers and platform operators from various European countries. An initial qualitative evaluation of the interviews (Pellin & Verdicchio, 2024a) has already shown that publishers of scientific journals in particular are not making full use of the possibilities offered by publication platforms and tools that could increase publication quality and visibility or streamline editorial processes and conserve resources. It was striking that a lack of resources or training were not the only reasons given for this.

In order to gain a clearer picture of the use of tools and publication software and the implementation of technical standards, the interviews were supplemented with data from the DIAMAS survey and systematically evaluated for this report in terms of motivation for or resistance to the use of the technical means available for publishing journals. Based on research on technology acceptance, a grid was created that allowed a whole range of relevant obstacles in the technical support of the publication process to be identified from the interviews.

It is clear that, in addition to economic factors, social factors can also hinder the introduction of new tools and technologies: established workflows and existing technological conventions make publishers and platform operators cautious when it comes to innovations. Similarly, the complexity of technological innovations and the associated uncertainty about the consequences of their use can inhibit the introduction of new tools and technologies. Beliefs about journalistic quality, idealistic notions, uncertainties about technical possibilities, and entrenched editorial processes also prevent publishers from fully exploiting existing technical aids in the publication process.

A survey of journal publishers conducted at the Summer School 2025 organized by CRAFT-OA and among Swiss OA journals included in the Plato project allows the results from the report on technology acceptance to be further refined and expanded.