Pilot project OAPEN-CH: first open access books published

The SNSF is funding 27 open access books in the pilot project OAPEN-CH. The second call for proposals will be launched on 15 February 2016.

The SNSF launched the first of two planned calls for proposals for the pilot project OAPEN-CH in February 2015. Within the scope of this study, the SNSF and the academic publishers are gathering experience on the open access publication process for monographs that are freely accessible online. They are also collecting data on the use, sale and production costs of digital and printed books. The focus of the pilot project is a shared learning process along with the publishers and other participants involved in open access publication.

OAPEN-CH pilot project website

Status of the pilot project

Ten academic publishing houses from Switzerland and Germany participated in the first OAPEN-CH call for proposals. During the first pilot phase, the SNSF supported the publication of 54 books. Of these, 27 are being published in open access mode: they can be freely accessed through the publishers’ websites, in the OAPEN Library and in an institutional repository. In the longer term, the books published in the pilot phase will also be available through the e-Helveticat platform of the Swiss National Library. In addition, a printed version is available for each of the pilot publications.

In addition to gathering data on use, sale and production costs, a key aim of the project is to share information with the participating publishers. A workshop was held as part of the pilot project for this purpose in November. The SNSF discussed the core topics of the open access publication process with representatives of academic publishers and other experts. In particular, the workshop considered quality control using a peer review process for open access book publications, with animated discussions among the participants.

Second call in 2016

Based on the discussions in the workshop and reports from the academic publishers involved in the first round, the SNSF aims to carry on the OAPEN-CH pilot project as planned. The second call for proposals will be launched on 15 February 2016. Publishers will be able to submit their book publication proposals for the pilot project until 13 April 2016.

Second call for proposals (PDF)