Blog posts
How the OA Switchboard fits into the ecosystem with collaboration and transparency built-in (PART 1), 15 August 2022
As research funders and institutions are expanding open access requirements, and business models become increasingly complex and diverse, how do stakeholders navigate the open access research and publishing maze?
Who are these stakeholders, systems and identifiers, and how do we fit into the overall open access (OA) publishing ecosystem?
This post, the first in a series to answer that question, is about the ‘intermediary’ concept.
OA Switchboard 2022 mid-year review: Collaboration drives growth and progress, 27 May 2022
We’re happy to report on the huge amount of progress made so far as we reflect on how things are looking halfway through the second year of our 2021-2022 launch phase.
OA Switchboard reaches milestone
17 March 2022
The OA Switchboard reached an impressive milestone at the start of this month: 100,000 exchanges of OA article metadata from publishers to research funders, institutions, and consortia.
Why is this important? By reaching this milestone, OA Switchboard proves that it performs as it was designed to, and that it reduces OA workflow complexity for all parties involved.
OA Switchboard one year live: Community, collaboration, and delivering on the promise of PIDs, 8 December 2021
In this year-end post, we’re delighted to share how, together with our founding partners, launch customers and other stakeholders, we have built a community of like-minded spirits on a mission.
We thank everyone for an amazing year. Special thanks to our founding partners and launch customers, the members of our Working Groups, Advisory Group and Client Advisory Board, our sponsors, our tech partner ELITEX and our strategic partner OASPA.
OA Switchboard’s self-assessment of the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI), 7 October 2021
We referred to the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI) throughout 2020 while we were designing a sustainable governance and funding set-up for OA Switchboard, not just because of the guidance POSI gives on areas to address, but because POSI is also a leading example of garnering the trust of the broader scholarly community. During this time we also talked with numerous stakeholders, expert legal advisors in various countries, and founders and leaders of other industry initiatives to define our own core principles.
This post is a reflection on how we are honouring POSI since we moved to the operational stage as Stichting OA Switchboard from 1 January 2021.
Matching Publication Costs with Publication Funds, 14 September 2021
Authoritative data from source & connecting and complementing existing systems and solutions
As we see the growth in OA output, the need to develop infrastructure to streamline communication between research funders, institutions/libraries and academic publishers becomes a priority. One of the challenges is matching publication costs with publication funds for which stakeholders have a number of aspects to deal with.
What are 'publication costs' and 'publication funds'? What is an example of a 'business model'? What is a 'publication funder'?
Engagement with the community is building the OA Switchboard, 28 June 2021
The activity and engagement has been non-stop!
The OA Switchboard is live and we're well on track in the first year of our 2021-2022 'launch phase'. If you want to read more, view a recording or are looking for something specific, we have now made it easy for you to review our content at a new dedicated resources page on our website.
The most recent video animation on ‘Reporting Made Easy’ by the OA Switchboard is there as well.
Reporting Made Easy - Our partners share their insights on the rationale behind the need for reporting, 4 May 2021
Read their views and experiences!
We took a step back to speak with some of our partners and asked them to answer five questions:
What is the underlying need for ‘reporting’?
What is the minimum set of metadata required?
What sources (systems) capture and manage these (meta)data? Is it possible to extract the data?
What makes a ‘standard’?
How does the OA Switchboard make reporting ‘easy’? How does it work, end-to-end and real-time?
OA Switchboard Working Group probes support for OA Books, 30 March 2021
Participate in the next meeting!
Last week members of the OA Switchboard Books Working Group got together for the third time since its inception last year, to continue dialogues on how OA Switchboard can deliver on its ambition and commitment to support all types of scholarly output. read full article >
In this and the next meeting: special attention to the point of view of research funders and institutions.
OA Switchboard Update, 4 March 2021
Join us!
Our objects are both practical and mission-driven. What does that mean and why does it matter? read full article >
OA Switchboard - central information exchange hub - a mission-driven practical solution, that thrives on collaboration
OA Switchboard Update, 28 January 2021
We're live!
The OA Switchboard moved to the operational stage on 1 January 2021 and we’re happy to be well underway.
We’ll continue to keep you informed this year via regular updates and in this first blog of the year, I’ll tell you about our plans and priorities and how we continue to shape the collaborative nature of the initiative... read full article >