Open Science for Arts, Design and Music/Publishers/Catarsi-Teatri delle Diversità

Catarsi-Teatri delle Diversità

Catarsi-Teatri delle Diversità is an Italian academic publication focusing on the social value of theatre and the performing arts in the field of social hardship, disability and imprisonment.

Description of the Publication

Catarsi-Teatri delle Divertità was founded in 1996 by Emilio Pozzi and Vito Minoia. Since then, it has been published irregularly almost every six months. The latest issue (n. 83/84) was published in April 2019. The magazine can be purchased online on the publisher's website: Edizioni Catarsi. For its production, it can also count on public (both on a national and regional level) funding.

Catarsi-Teatri delle Divertità has an informal connection to the University of Urbino through the affiliation and the director, Vito Minoia. The magazine is recognised at an international level. In is part of the IATJ, International Archive of Theatre Journals, which was born from the collaboration between the Consulta Universitaria del Teatro and the International Federation for Theatre Research. It has been collaborating with the editorial committee of the AITU-IUTA (International University Theatre Association) since 2014, and with the Publication Committee of the International Theatre Institute - UNESCO since 2017.

Catarsi-Teatri delle Divertità features articles in Italian, English, Spanish and French. It is richly illustrated with black and white photographs. Articles are optionally peer reviewed using the single-blind review system.

Implementation of Open Access

Starting point

The editorial team wants to relaunch the journal whose last issue dates back to April 2019. On this occasion, they decided to turn the journal, up to now only paper-based, into an online open access publication. They already have the content (texts and iconographic apparatus) to fill two issues. They ask for support to implement open access, recognising a lack of familiarity with the topic and possible difficulties in handling copyrighted images and sensitive data.

Challenges and recommendations

unfamiliarity with open access and need for practical support in implementation:
- we provided assistance in choosing CC licence (CC BY-SA 4.0), we drafted the magazine's open access policy and suggested with a list of steps towards implementation of OA (i.e. inclusion of DOI and recommended attribution)
sensitivity of contents: the magazine specialises in theatrical experiences in situations of social hardship - in particular with theatre in prisons - and with people with disabilities. It has an ethical and moral responsibility to protect sensitive content which is therefore in direct contrast with the needs of open access.
- we recommend paying extra attention to the protection of personal and sensitive data both at the level of textual contents and iconographic apparatus, and suggest to adopt different levels of openness (i.e. different or CC licences) depending of the sensitivity of the content.

Implementation

Open Access policy: we provided a draft for the magazine Open Access policy
letter to authors to request permission to release the content in OA: we provided a standard letter to be sent to authors asking their permission to release their articles with the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence
publication of the first issue in open access: the publication in open access of Catarsi-Teatri delle Divertità is expected in early 2025, the editorial team is in contact with the OS-ADM team

Lessons Learned

The case study proved to be very fruitful. From the very beginning, the editorial team was open to dialogue and receptive to our input. The willingness to move from a print journal to an open access digital journal demonstrated the general trend towards open content in academia. The timely exchange on copyright and sensitive material issues confirmed the need to use clearance forms from the outset.