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Photo credit: Erudit
Érudit is the result of a master’s thesis in information sciences carried out by Guylaine Beaudry at the University of Montreal, which remotely identified the lack of access to Quebec scientific journals. Erudit has come a long way. Continued production continued. returnedreturnedreturnedreturnedreturnedreturnedreturnedreturned
An evolving role
Born in the early days of the Internet, Érudit was initially a platform to bring online five magazines from the Presses de l’Université de Montréal, which supported the project from the beginning. But it’s not just about putting the texts online, we also ensure that the formats are indexable and readable by devices. “With the solid foundation and the vision of 25 years ago, we feel prepared for the future,” says Tanja Niemann.
“Given the great interest, the idea arose to share the tool with other magazines and other universities,” says Gwendal Henry, communications consultant at Érudit. In 2004, a consortium was formed between UdeM, Université Laval and Université du Québec à Montréal to support the production of Quebec research journals. The platform will continue to evolve and the fourth version will be launched in 2017. “The technological environment is changing and we must continue to improve to achieve better referencing and greater accessibility,” he notes. Every year 10,000 new articles and stories are added to Érudit.
In addition, Érudit is recognized by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation as one of the 19 largest Canadian infrastructures. “This is important because in the humanities the text becomes the object of research,” explains Tanja Niemann. With partners, Érudit has created a text corpus that can be explored via Calcul Québec.
A local science in the local language
reiterated the support of back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back By creating space for these publications, which often operate in silos, Érudit mobilizes university libraries and other stakeholders to “renew these “To stabilize work around magazines and give it sustainability,” confides Tanja Niemann.
Érudit therefore plays an essential role as an anchor point in the ecosystem of scientific communication in French. The disappearance of these French-language journals would inevitably have an impact on the research topics. “Large international magazines are not necessarily interested in local issues,” notes the director. The team behind Érudit, which has acquired unique and solid expertise, supports the magazines but also the users of the platform on a daily basis. “The magazines benefit from our infrastructure and our services; they don’t have to reinvent the wheel for themselves,” she remembers.
Reliable and free content
By centralizing content and offering services to French-language journals, Érudit therefore plays an important role in the world of humanities and social sciences research. backcontent backfrom backwhichareattheheartofsciencein back We reinforce 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 occurs by foreign internet users. Barrier-free and easily downloadable even for those without access to current devices or a fast connection, the content is accessible to both professionals and beginners. “People are finding a validated source of information,” notes Gwendal Henry. During the pandemic, the platform observed that the questions at the heart of the debates were reflected in its ranking of the most read articles.
Scientifically, for and by the community
Given the major changes in the subscription economic model, Érudit is committed to open access. The source code is open and 97% of the texts provided can be viewed free of charge. Around 3% of the content is accessible by subscription from libraries: “This allows amounts to be returned to magazines so that they can, for example, pay their graphic designer or their editorial secretary,” says the consultant.
backsaldonotpayto backin backon back “This cannot be implemented in the humanities and social sciences,” says Tanja Niemann. It is therefore the close cooperation between university libraries that enables the financing and maintenance of this model. This is the big difference from commercial publishers, who make profits thanks to research carried out with public money, in journals that are often run by researchers on a voluntary basis. “The aim is to ensure that public money flows to the magazine teams so that they can produce and train high-quality magazines,” summarizes Gwendal Henry.
Keep playing your role
repeatedrecurringrecurringrecurringrecurringrecurring Please note that these will be displayed again. In addition to its tireless fight for the production of content in French, Érudit is now recognized as Canada’s national platform for journals in the humanities and social sciences. It’s continually continued continued continued. continually continually continually continued
To reverse the balance of power at commercial publishers, the Érudit team wants universities to better recognize the importance of local journals’ work as vehicles for scholarship. “These magazines bring communities to life; We must promote these publications in French,” concludes Gwendal Henry.
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