[Forwarding from OAPEN. --Peter Suber.] *New OAPEN Report: Overview of Open Access Models for eBooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences*
A new survey of Open Access book publishing confirms a wide variety of approaches, as well as a continuing search for the optimal publishing- and business models. While Open Access is still in an experimental phase of trying out new models, and tracking the readers’ online and offline preferences to gauge the best way forward, some trends and patterns have started to emerge. This recently conducted survey of a wide international range of publishing initiatives compares the publishing- and business models they employ, while examining their reasons for engaging in Open Access. The report cites findings from case studies including major academic presses (such as Yale University Press, the MIT Press, the University of California Press), commercial publishers (Bloomsbury Academic), library-press partnerships (the University of Michigan Press), academic led-presses (Open Humanities Press), commercial-academic press ventures, as well as other partnerships, which all offer Open Access to anything from a single title to the entire retro-digitized backlist. While it is too early to confirm with any certainty which models are the most viable in the long term, it is clear that sustainable long-term business models require a measure of external funding, while cutting costs and creating efficiencies through the use of shared resources, digitized production process and a new range of revenue sources. The full report can be found here * http://www.oapen.org/images/OpenAccessModels.pdf* *Wiki * In late April, OAPEN will launch a moderated wiki listing all the initiatives outlined in the report. We expect the wiki to become a valuable resource for the Open Access community and for future Open Access publishers, and we hope we can depend on the Open Access community to assist us in keeping it up-to-date and complete. If you know of any initiatives missing from the report that should to be mentioned on the wiki, please email *[email protected]*. Once the wiki is online, you will be able to add updates directly. *Expert Workshop on Copyright and Open Access Book Publishing* A joint *OAPEN <http://www.oapen.org/>/ENCES <http://www.ences.eu/>** *expert workshop on ‘Copyright and Open Access book publishing’ was organized on February 15th. The workshop focused on the practical legal issues faced by OAPEN and publishers regarding Open Access monographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The conference report and individual presentations can now be found online at the ENCES website via the following link: *http://www.ences.eu/workshop-10-amsterdam/documentation-of-the-workshop/* For more information, please visit: * http://www.ences.eu/workshop-10-amsterdam/* *For more information, contact Eelco Ferwerda <[email protected]> (Amsterdam University Press)* *UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS* JISC Conference – April 12 to 13 – London, England UKSG Conference – April 12 to 14 – Edinburgh, Scotland London International Book Fair – April 19 to 21 – London, England European Conference on Scientific Publishing in Biomedicine and Medicine 3 – May 27 to 29 – Leiden University, The Netherlands ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OAPEN is a Targeted Project co-funded by the EC within its eContentplus Programme. OAPEN aims to develop and implement an Open Access publication model for academic books in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS). Our goal is to achieve a sustainable European approach to improve the quantity, visibility and usability of high quality academic research and foster the creation of new content by developing future-oriented publishing solutions, including an Open Access Library for peer reviewed books in HSS. The 30-months project started in September 2008. Learn more about OAPEN by visiting the website: www.oapen.org
