SPARC Europe recently announced its participation in the Open Book Futures (OBF) project, which aims to increase access to Open Access (OA) books. The project, funded by Arcadia and the Research England Development (RED) Fund, intends to significantly increase the quantity, discoverability, and accessibility of academic content, ensuring that it is freely and easily available to scholars and the general public.
Despite the benefits of OA publishing, the number of OA books published each year remains relatively low compared to OA journal articles. In response to this challenge, the OBF project was launched to build on the pioneering work conducted within the Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs (COPIM) project.
SPARC Europe's involvement in the OBF project will be multifaceted. The organization will bring its experience in establishing and running The Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) and its connections to Invest in Open Infrastructure to advise the project. Additionally, it will contribute to the outreach work being conducted by Work Package 2, on behalf of the Open Book Collective, and Work Package 3, on behalf of the Opening the Future revenue model.
SPARC Europe is committed to raising awareness of this important initiative and exploring new opportunities for OA books to build a more sustainable infrastructure. The organization's involvement is expected to initiate a step change in the ambition, scope, and impact of community-led OA book publishing, improving the quantity, discoverability, and accessibility of long-form publications and making them freely and easily available to scholars and the wider public.
With the participation of SPARC Europe, the Open Book Futures project is well-positioned to achieve its goals and usher in a new era of Open Access publishing, benefiting scholars and the general public alike.
Click here to read the original press release.
