Nearly 60 proposals for the first round of OAPEN-CH

Ten publishing houses have submitted 58 proposals for open access book publications. They will learn in June whether their publications have been approved.

Science publishers have shown a strong
interest in the pilot project OAPEN-CH. All in all 58 proposals were received
by the submission deadline of 15 April 2015. Nine Swiss publishing houses -
five from the German-, three from the French- and one from the Italian-speaking
part - are participating in the project along with one German publishing house.

In the first round of OAPEN-CH the
participants will become familiar with two different publishing models.
Thirty-four publications, i.e. 17 pairs of books, have been proposed for model
1, in which a book is immediately published in open access mode without any
embargo period and, at the same time, as a printed book.

Twenty-four publications, or 12 pairs of
books, were proposed for model 2, slightly fewer than for model 1. In model 2 a
printed book is released for open access after 24 months, but continues to be
offered for sale in printed form.

The SNSF is currently examining the
proposals. In the first half of June, they will let the publishers know which
pairs of books have been selected for the pilot study. Publication is planned
for autumn 2015. A second call will be issued in February 2016.