Humanities and Open access: Current Projects

Friday, 26th October 2012Jeremy Upton

Deputy Director Library Services

Open Access Projects

Discussion taking place today in context of significant amount of existing activity by major players•European Level: OAPEN Network•UK level: JISC Collections and OAPEN-UK•Commercial Publishers: Knowledge Unlatched

Open Access Projects

All above agree need for change•Existing publishing model in humanities not viable•Opportunity to make better use of technology to improve access to key content•Key to bring together main sources of funding with people who need to be paid to provide service

OAPENOpen Access Publishing in European Networks“OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) is a collaborative initiative to develop and implement a sustainable Open Access publication model for academic books in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

•Supported by University based academic publishers•Key maintenance of quality including peer review

http://www.oapen.org/home

OAPEN

Key Areas of Activity•Foster the creation of content using new OA publishing models•Support for experimentation and research•OAPEN Library

OAPEN-UK

Within OAPEN framework: experimentation•Specific project to look at the impact of OA on traditional publishing models: paired publications•The myth of loss of revenue•Opportunity to work with all stakeholders to understand needs and attitudes, a wide exploration of OA monograph publishing issues

Knowledge Unlatched

3 year pilot to create a sustainable business model•Recognizes where the money is to support publishing, aims to make it work better, flexibility to include other funding streams•Works within existing publishing and purchasing infrastructure (a return to the subscribed publication?)•Sharing cost of “title fee”•Continued opportunities for alternative revenue streams, flexibility to change, incentive for innovation

http://www.knowledgeunlatched.org/