Incentivizing Open Access: the Library as Publisher

Academic libraries are demonstrating an increased commitment to transforming the scholarly publishing industry by becoming publishers themselves. As publisher, the library can take direct action to foster the growth of Open Access publishing as a viable alternative to the traditional publishing model. The University Library System (ULS), University of Pittsburgh has developed an innovative program to support journal publishing services for partners worldwide. Moving beyond support for the home institution, the ULS now offers its services to partners anywhere who share a commitment to Open Access for high-quality peer-reviewed scholarly content. By subsidizing OA publishing, libraries can provide real material support to the principle of Open Access to scholarly research and incentivize scholars worldwide to join in this commitment. To ensure sustainability of its program, the ULS has developed an efficient process and suite of tools with the Public Knowledge Project’s Open Journal Systems (OJS) software as a foundation to work with new publishing partners and encourage them to become nearly self-sufficient in publishing new peer-reviewed content. Thus, each new journal can be added with only very small incremental costs. Strategies to uphold the quality and sustainability of the program include careful selection of publishing partners, the formation of a Publication Advisory Board and the planned introduction of modest cost recovery mechanisms to sustain future growth