Refract: An Open Access Visual Studies Journal

Publishing in many arts disciplines is enriched by, and may rely on, the use of images. Authors have long found the hurdles and the fees for using these images to be daunting, and the move to digital publishing can make this problem worse. Open-access publishing can prove even more challenging. If scholarship in art history, art criticism, visual studies and other fields is going to thrive in a future where digital and open-access publishing are the norm, we need better options. Fortunately, we have already seen signs that a better future is possible, and communities have been creating resources to make it more likely. Raising the awareness of the individuals and organizations in the art scholarship publishing ecosystem about these resources is a crucial first step toward a shared vision for scholarly publishing in the arts: one that encourages academic freedom and broad engagement through openness and a better understanding of the law.