Strengthening the OAPEN infrastructure in support of European Union Open Access policy

Monographs and other forms of academic books remain integral to scholarly output and the communication of research, particularly within the social sciences and humanities (SSH). Developing a culture of Open Science within the European Research Area (ERA), in alignment with the Council conclusions on high-quality, transparent, open, trustworthy, and equitable scholarly publishing (May 2023), must therefore encompass open access (OA) to scholarly books. In the Annotated Grant Agreement of the EU Funding Programme 2021-2027 this is clearly addressed: “The beneficiaries must ensure open access to peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to their results.” whereas the term ‘publications’ include both journal articles and books.This project directly addresses the EU’s Open Access policy requirements by strengthening the OAPEN Library, a critical infrastructure for curating, hosting, disseminating, and preserving peer-reviewed long-form publications, i.e. scholarly books (monographs, edited collections etc.) and book chapters. By enhancing services tailored to the specific needs of Horizon Europe-funded books, the project supports the open access mandates of the European Commission and the European Research Council under Horizon Europe and contributes to the EU’s broader Open Science framework.