Oriental Institute goes open access, increases sales

A little bird recently dropped this press release in my inbox: four years ago, the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago began putting its publications online free and open access (using a pretty restrictive license). The result?

The response to the EPI [Electronic Publications Initiative] has been overwhelming, with positive comments received from all over the world. Complimentary Web distribution ensures that publications of the Oriental Institute are made available to everyone with access to the Internet–especially in countries where the Institute carries out research. Statistics on downloads of electronic files and sales of printed books are tracked, and sales of the printed volumes have not decreased! Indeed, after the complimentary distribution of twenty-one titles in 2008 that had for many years only been available in print, sales of these titles increased by 7% compared with the previous two years.

That’s right, a 7% increase in sales of titles distributed online.

Alex Golub is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He studies mining and petroleum development in Papua New Guinea, as well as American culture in to the online game World of Warcraft. You can contact him at rex@savageminds.org