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3 Jul 2019

University Library part of £2.2m research project to improve open access book publishing

Loughborough University’s Library is to become a partner in a new research project which has been granted funding by the Research England Development Fund.

Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs will address structural, technological and organisation hurdles around funding, production, dissemination, discovery, reuse and archiving – which all stand in the way of wider adoption and impact of Open Access (OA) books.

The research hopes to help librarians, universities, researchers and publishers productively collaborate, and puts Loughborough at the forefront of work in open access books.

Additionally, the project aims to develop and build underlying modular components to support the sustainable publication of OA books.

Research Data Manager, Gareth Cole, will be co-leading one of seven packages which will look at the archiving and digital preservation of open access books. As part of the partnership, a Research Associate will be also be based at the University for six months.

Speaking about the announcement, Gareth said: “I am delighted that the Library is involved in this innovative project which will put us at the forefront of work in open access books. Preservation of digital outputs is essential in ensuring that today’s research can be read tomorrow.”

Research England’s Executive Chair, David Sweeney, added: “Open access plays an important role in maximising the impact of publicly funded research and innovation by making it more widely available to all who might benefit from it. Open access is a key priority both for Research England, and for UK Research and Innovation as a whole.

“So, I am delighted that we are able to support this ambitious project in developing new and innovative open access publishing ecosystems. It will help us ensure that all publicly funded research is widely and freely accessible to everyone as soon as possible.”

The project is being led by Coventry University and other partners include:

  • Birkbeck University, Lancaster University and Trinity College, Cambridge
  • The ScholarLed consortium of publishers: Open Book Publishers, punctum books, Open Humanities Press, Mattering Press, and meson press
  • University of California, Santa Barbara Library
  • Jisc Collections, Digital Preservation Coalition, Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)

More information about the project can be found here.