Mikael Laakso
About me
I am an Associate Professor (tenure track) in Information Studies at Tampere University, Finland where I specialize in scholarly communication and open science. Since 2009 I have been researching the changing landscape towards openness in scholarly publishing by studying combinations of bibliometrics, web metrics, business models, science policy, and author behavior. I defended my PhD thesis on the subject of Open Access journal publishing in 2014 from Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland. Please see the publications section of my webpage if you are interested in the research I´ve been doing.
In addition to teaching, supervision, and research I see societal impact as very important part of my work, thus I frequently give public talks and am involved in various national and international groups. I have been involved in preparing reports for the European Commission, the European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA), Harvard Library Office of Scholarly Communication, the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland, the Finnish Association of Scholarly Publishers, and the Nordic Publications Committee for Humanities and Social Science Periodicals (NOP-HS).
Regarding my current societal engagements I am the chair of the Finnish Association for Scholarly Publishing, a member of the steering group of the FinELib library consortium, a member of the advisory board for intellectual property appointed by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
I am a member of the editorial board of Nordic Journal of Library and Information Studies, Tampere University Press and Nordic Perspectives on Open Science. I am also on the advisory board of EconStor and the blog Elephant in the Lab.
Latest publications
Breaking the Silence on Linguistic and Gender Bias in Scholarly Publishing: What Can Librarians Do?
Bowker, L., Laakso, M. & Pölönen, J., 4 Feb 2025, In: Information matters. 5, 2Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › Professional
How to Begin the OA Transition: a guide for smaller and specialist publishers
Estelle, L., Jago, D., Jones, R., Laakso, M., Snijder, R. & Wise, A., 2025Research output: Other contribution
Learned societies in the academic landscape: challenges in identifying and categorizing organizations
Kulczycki, E., Pölönen, J., Laakso, M. & Taskin, Z., 9 Apr 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Scientometrics. 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Making the case for multilingual scholarly communication
Bowker, L., Laakso, M. & Pölönen, J., 1 Jun 2025, In: The Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science. 48, 1Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Mapping the publisher types and collaborations behind Web of Science indexed journals
Taşkın, Z., Pölönen, J., Kulczycki, E. & Laakso, M., 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Quantitative Science Studies. p. 1-31Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Supporting learned society, subject association, and smaller specialist publishers to transition to open access book publishing (SPA OPS 4.0 project)
Estelle, L., Jago, D., Jones, R., Laakso, M., Snijder, R. & Wise, A., 2025, Zenodo. 89 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
Why engage with transformative agreements in scholarly publishing? Analysis of customer and publisher press release statements
Laakso, M. & Ayeni, P., 2025, In: JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTATION. 81, 7, p. 420–442Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
D5.2 National overviews on sustaining institutional publishing in Europe
Taşkın, Z., Melinščak Zlodi, I., Laakso, M., Torny, D., Arasteh, S., Bargheer, M., Klaus, T., Schima, J., Agnoloni, T., Peruginelli, G., Davidson, A., Franczak, M., María Ángeles, C. B., de Pablo Llorente, V., Dobson, H. & Heyman, J., 2024Research output: Other contribution
Learned societies as publishers in the international journal landscape
Taşkın, Z., Pölönen, J., Kulczycki, E. & Laakso, M., 2024, 19th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics, ISSI 2023 - Proceedings. Ahn, Y. Y., Bollen, J. L., Borner, K., Boyack, K. W., Fortunato, S., Milojevic, S., Radicchi, F., Scharnhorst, A. & Wagner, C. (eds.). International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics, Vol. 2. p. 455-461 7 p. (Proceedings of the International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review
PALOMERA Deliverable 3.1 – Report on Analysis Findings
Laakso, M., Bandura-Morgan, L., Bazeliuk, N., Davidson, A., Dreyer, M., Iannace, D. E., Manista, G., Maciej, M., Matthias, L., Ozkan, O., Proudman, V., Păltineanu, S., da Silva Ferreira, N. H., Stone, G., Tummes, J.-P., Wnuk, M. & Varachina, H., 2024, European Commission. 149 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report