Sven Fund: 10 Years of Open Access at Knowledge Unlatched

“That missing link between various institutions, and one of the reasons behind of Knowledge Unlatched’s success, is its unique approach to open access: crowdfunding. Knowledge Unlatched’s crowdfunding model is called KU Select. On an annual basis, Knowledge Unlatched releases a librarian-curated selection of relevant academic books and journals, and libraries then pledge funding that enables this content to be published under open access.

According to information on the Knowledge Unlatched website, “The costs of investing in Knowledge Unlatched collections are less than the costs if all institutions were to purchase the content in traditional forms.” …”

KU’s Open Access Collections for Libraries to Support in 2023 (North America)

“The year 2023 marks a significant milestone for Knowledge Unlatched’s library crowdfunding initiative, as it celebrates a decade of facilitating the publication of thousands of Open Access (OA) monographs. This landmark achievement has led to some exciting new developments at KU.

In this webinar, Alexandra Brown and Elaine Lambert will provide an overview of the new OA collections that libraries can support until the end of 2023. The webinar will also highlight the significant changes made to KU’s multi-disciplinary collection, KU Select, which now exclusively focuses on HSS subjects aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This shift aims to provide greater value to institutions and researchers and enables libraries to support timely, relevant, and sought-after OA content.”

Knowledge Unlatched Shares Results of 2022 Pledging – Knowledge Unlatched

“Knowledge Unlatched (KU), a Wiley brand, is pleased to share the results of its 2022 pledging round, which ended in December 2022 and once again saw hundreds of libraries worldwide pledge support for OA book and journal collections offered by KU and its partners.

Overall, about 283 books will be made available OA in 2023. These include 184 books from the KU Select 2023 HSS Books Collection, two Focus Collections—Climate Change and Global Health—and around 99 books from KU’s partner collections. In addition, KU will support the publication of 700 peer-reviewed blog posts and 10 videos. KU’s efforts also contributed to the sustainability of 52 journals thanks to the successful continuation of 4 Subscribe-to-Open (S2O) partnerships and an additional 4 journals from the final year of the KU Select Journals collection. Additionally, over 200 additional books were made OA last year through KU Open Services—a service that helps publishers make titles OA on a title-by-title basis. KU expects similar numbers in 2023, bringing the combined number of books expected to be published OA via KU in 2023 to nearly 500….”

Oable incorporates all of Elsevier’s journals – Knowledge Unlatched

“Elsevier, a global leader in research publishing and information analytics, is establishing a pilot with Oable, the innovative open access (OA) workflow management solution developed by Knowledge Unlatched, to simplify the librarian approval workflow for open access publishing.

Oable supports libraries in managing their OA activities across publishers, including different types of commercial agreements and products. The new partnership will be piloted with select institutions with the aim of streamlining transactions and reducing the administrative burden on librarians and university officials. This means librarians for the institutions participating in the pilot will be able to manage their OA agreements and arrangements for all Elsevier journals through the Oable platform….”

Opening the Future: A New Model for Funding Open Access Monographs

Abstract:  We outline the work of two university presses, with assistance from the Community-led Publishing Infrastructures for Monographs (COPIM) Project, in creating an innovative revenue model to fund Open Access (OA) monographs at a traditional publisher. Building on library journal subscription models and on Knowledge Unlatched’s approach to monograph funding, this OA publishing model (called “Opening the Future”) gives members special access to a backlist, with the revenue then used to make the frontlist openly accessible. We also examine the general landscape of OA and funding models and discuss some of the challenges and benefits.

 

Knowledge Unlatched: A New Funding Round and Work with FID Benelux

“Knowledge Unlatched head of publisher relations Neil Christensen has announced a partnership with a “specialized information service” called FID Benelux Low Countries Studies, based in Münster. In this project, FID Benelux has paid to make 28 titles from the field of Dutch, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg studies available as open access. The resulting ebooks have been made openly accessible in partnership with Knowledge Unlatched (KU) and its “KU Reverse” model….”

The Bookseller – News – Emerald Publishing partners with Knowledge Unlatched for e-book collection

“Emerald Publishing has partnered with Knowledge Unlatched (KU) to create and promote an Open Access e-book collection in business management and economics. 

The exclusive deal starts from 2023 and is the first Open Access partnership of its kind for the publisher within its e-books portfolio.  

All book titles in the “Emerald Publishing – Responsible Management and the SDGs” package will also focus on responding to and achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a particular focus on SDGs on decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation and infrastructure; and responsible consumption and production. 

Titles will cover themes such as diversity, inclusion and gender and racial equity in the workplace, sustainable tourism and ending forced labour, and how businesses of all sizes are working towards SDGs. …”

GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO Partners with Knowledge Unlatched to Support Open Access Initiatives in Academic Libraries

GOBI® Library Solutions from EBSCO?(GOBI Library Solutions) now supports the Knowledge Unlatched (KU) Open Access (OA) e-books funding model, providing the opportunity for academic libraries to support OA funding initiatives within their GOBI workflow. The addition of the Knowledge Unlatched Open Research Library E-Book platform will make the complete collection of Knowledge Unlatched OA crowdfunding products available to GOBI customers worldwide.

Open Access Delivers Significant Increased Usage for All Pluto Journals 21 Publications in 2021 – Knowledge Unlatched

In January 2021 Pluto Journals took the step of flipping all 21 of their Journals into Open Access, which means that all articles are free to read. By the end of January 2022, the usage statistics of the portfolio of Journals had increased by a staggering 650%, over the figures in 2020 and by 850% over the figures for 2019.

Opening the Future: A New Model for Funding Open Access Monographs: The Serials Librarian: Vol 0, No 0

Abstract:  We outline the work of two university presses, with assistance from the Community-led Publishing Infrastructures for Monographs (COPIM) Project, in creating an innovative revenue model to fund Open Access (OA) monographs at a traditional publisher. Building on library journal subscription models and on Knowledge Unlatched’s approach to monograph funding, this OA publishing model (called “Opening the Future”) gives members special access to a backlist, with the revenue then used to make the frontlist openly accessible. We also examine the general landscape of OA and funding models and discuss some of the challenges and benefits.

 

LAUNCH: Laudato Si’ Integral Ecology Collection | laudato-si

“In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis emphasised the importance of a united, global response to the current ecological crisis. Dialogue and learning on integral ecology, however, is often hindered by limited access to the academic publications on the subject, which are not affordable for many individuals and institutions in lower-income countries.

 

The Laudato Si’ Integral Ecology Collection was developed to address this problem by making open access a selection of key texts on integral ecology. The collection will provide a valuable resource for lay readers, students, and those undertaking more advanced academic study. Publications in the collection could also be read as part of a reading group or an online course.

At the launch, we will hear from academics and practitioners in the Global South on their current access to academic material on integral ecology and how this collection will support their work. We will also hear about the origins of collection and plans for its future development. There will be an opportunity for Q&A with panellists.”

Knowledge Unlatched and Laudato Si’ Research Institute Make a Collection of at least 11 Books on Integral Ecology Open Access – Knowledge Unlatched

“Knowledge Unlatched (KU) and the Laudato Si’ Research Institute at Campion Hall, Oxford (LSRI) have joined forces to make 11 titles from the field of Integral Ecology Open Access (OA). This collection of e-books, the Laudato Si’ Integral Ecology Collection, is made possible thanks to the “KU Reverse” model from Knowledge Unlatched and to the generous co-funding from the University of Notre Dame, Georgetown University (Environmental Justice Program), with support from the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology.

In his encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of a united, global response to the current ecological crisis. Dialogue and learning on integral ecology, however, is often hindered by limited access to the academic publications on the subject, which are not affordable for many individuals and institutions in lower-income countries. The Laudato Si’ Integral Ecology Collection was developed to address this problem by making OA a selection of key texts on integral ecology. The collection will provide a valuable resource for lay readers, students, and those undertaking more advanced academic study. Publications in the collection could also be read as part of a reading group or an online course.

The titles will be made available OA to users all over the world after the official launch of the Collection on March 3, 2022 and hosted in a special module on the Open Research Library….”

Knowledge Unlatched Presents Open Access Heroes 2022

Knowledge Unlatched (KU), the international initiative for Open Access (OA), is pleased to announce OA Heroes 2022, highlighting the countries, institutions, publishers, disciplines and scholarly titles seeing the most usage worldwide. The number of total user interactions (including downloads and views) for KU titles has grown year on year by 16 percent and now stands at a total of 16.2 million. On average, each title unlatched through KU gets 5,450 user interactions.