The Central European University Press collective library funding model for open access monographs - Opening the Future - launched in partnership with COPIM, has been shortlisted as a finalist in the prestigious ALPSP Awards for Innovation in Publishing.
Opening the Future (OtF) gives member libraries subscription access to portions of the CEU Press’ highly regarded backlist and uses the membership fees to fund future publications in open access (OA). The model offers an equitable way for authors to publish in open access at CEU Press by removing the barrier of book processing charges (author-facing fees for OA book publication) while at the same time allowing libraries to increase their collections and support for OA without stretching their budgets.
Dr Frances Pinter, Executive Chair of CEU Press expressed “We are absolutely delighted to be a ALPSP Innovation in Publishing finalist. Publishers spend a lot of money promoting their monographs to libraries; pushing books and competing for scarce budgets. In an Opening the Future world, more resources could be devoted to solving the discoverability, accessibility and visibility issues around books. That is why the CEU Press took up the pilot scheme so enthusiastically; we already have enough support to fund our first OtF OA monographs and look forward to seeing the program grow.”
Emily Poznanski, Director of CEU Press added “CEU Press has always had a clear purpose of bringing a regional perspective to some of the major issues of today, as well as allowing the rich complexity of the region to flourish. There is no better way to promote our books than in open access, which allows readers all over the world to use and build upon the ideas we publish. Opening the Future will move our publishing program into open access in a sustainable and equitable way.”
ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) is the international trade association which represents not-for-profit scholarly publishing, and those that work with them. ALPSP is a membership organization with nearly 300 member organisations from 30 countries. The annual conference is where industry experts discuss innovations in publishing, accessibility, discoverability and new business models. The prize shortlist can be found here.
