Open Access E-Books in Social Sciences: A Bibliometric Study of the DOAB

Abstract

The present study makes an attempt to explore and analyze the current trends in the publication of ebooks in the field of Social Sciences available through the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB). In order to fulfill the set objectives, the relevant details of the Social Sciences e-books were collected in the month of June 2017. Later, the data were analyzed using simple quantitative techniques to reveal findings. The findings revealed that the highest number of books in the DOAB are related to Social Sciences (1954, 22.417%), contributed by the authors (72.72%, 1421) and in the English language (69.14%, 1351). The time-series analysis shows that the number of e-books is increasing very fast up to the growth rate of 400%. These books are mostly contributed by academic institutions, commercial publishers and non-profit organizations.