It is known that research results are often hidden behind the publishers’ paywall and may not be accessible for all researchers and practitioners. While there are thousands of peer-reviewed journals with consistently increasing subscription costs, universities, libraries and companies are suffering from budget cuts making it difficult for them to offer a wide access to articles and journals. Therefore, there is an apparent danger that published research results are not seen by the audience that would benefit from them. Arguably, a solution for this matter would be to make
all the research results freely available over the Internet. Open Access as defined in the Budapest statement is such an initiative. Indeed, as of today, various Open Access models for publishers exist. The most commonly used models are called the gold, green, hybrid, and the delayed publishing models. Many new players are entering this market: independent journals and magazines, subscription-based traditional publishers, and the so-called predatory publishers. In Software Engineering and Information Systems fields, the status of Open Access publishing is little researched and hence to large extent an unknown and little understood venue for researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this special issue on Open Access publication challenges is to investigate the uncharted terrain in the fields of Software Engineering and Information Systems. We welcome all kinds of viewpoints including theoretical contemplations, systematic reviews, mapping studies, and empirical research papers on different topics, including:

- Publication models
- Quality of Open Access publications
- Industrial experiences
- Researchers’ perceptions
- Publishers’ viewpoints
- Status of Open Access research
- Costs of Open Access publishing
- Barriers for adoption of open access
- New publication innovations in Open Access

Important Dates:
Abstracts (optional): October 1st, 2013.
Deadline for manuscript submission: November 1st, 2013.
Notification to Authors: February 1st, 2014 (tentative date).
Final version: March 1st, 2014 (tentative date).

Challenges is an international peer-reviewed Open Access biannual journal published by MDPI. The publication fees are fully waived for papers submitted in 2013 (including this special issue). However, a fee of 250 CHF may apply for those articles that need major editing and formatting and/or English editing. See the journal website for more details.

All submissions, including abstracts, have to be made through the journal’s submission systems (see the Web Link). Abstracts will be published in the special issue Web page as soon as they are received.

Special Issue Editors:
Daniel Graziotin (primary contact), Xiaofeng Wang, and Pekka Abrahamsson.

Faculty of Computer Science, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Domenicani 3, 39100 Bolzano/Bozen, Italy
E-Mail: graziotin AT inf DOT unibz DOT it, xiaofeng DOT wang AT unibz DOT it, pekka DOT abrahamsson AT unibz DOT it.

Phone (Daniel Graziotin): +39-0471-016257
Fax (Daniel Graziotin): +39-0471-016009