News

2022 Focus: Build on the hard work of 2021 in terms of priorities and use cases

Posted: 3 January 2022

On the first working day of 2022, we’re excited to share that the second year of our launch phase will build on the hard work of 2021 in terms of priorities and use cases.

It’s no surprise that our overarching focus will continue to be on: 1) authoritative data from source; 2) interoperability of existing systems; 3) connecting the dots of existing PIDs. All, in our characteristic, well established, collaborative spirit.

What does this mean?

Authoritative data from source: article-level metadata directly from the publisher, via a (technically) validated standardised messaging protocol (no journal-level default values, no myriad of formats, etc)
Interoperability of existing systems: connect via (open) APIs (don’t re-invent the wheel, don’t rebuild what’s already out there)
Connecting the dots of existing PIDs: use of common standards #GRID #ISNI #Ringgold #ROR #ORCID #DOI

Please get in touch to learn more about these topics, and to discuss how OA Switchboard can support your organisation. We invite you to join our community of like-minded spirits on a mission: a breakthrough in the transformation of the market, enabling OA to be supported as the predominant model of publication.

31 December 2021 statistics

Posted 31 December 2021

On this last day of the year we celebrate that we’ve been fully operational for one year. We proudly share our 31 December statistics with you:

84,377 messages were sent by participating publishers to research funders and institutions/consortia via OA Switchboard
(‘messages’ = standardised sets of publication-level metadata).

We’re well underway to deliver on our mission as independent intermediary, connecting parties and systems, streamlining communication and the neutral exchange of OA related publication-level information. In terms of developing and maintaining our central information exchange hub as an operational solution, this is all about shared infrastructure, standardised messaging protocol, and integration with existing systems, powered by Persistent Identifiers (PIDs).

The OA Switchboard is providing a solution for a real pain point shared by research funders, institutions and publishers: the fulfilment of OA publication-level arrangements (policies, mandates, agreements, etc).

In 2021, our stakeholders have built a fantastic community of like-minded spirits on a mission. We’re grateful for our founding partners, launch customers and early adopters. And we very, very much thank Ivo Verbeek and Yuri Vorontsov from our tech partner ELITEX, and Bernie Folan and Claire Redhead from our strategic partner Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association.

Read more in our year-end blog post here.

Three OA Switchboard events at 2021 Open Publishing Fest - for three time zones

OA Switchboard will host three 'discussion events' at the 2021 Open Publishing Fest, a decentralized public event that brings together communities supporting open source software, open content, and open publishing models.

The same event will run three times on Tuesday 9 November 2021:

at 7am (CET) for our friends to the east of us
at 1pm (CET) for our friends nearer by
at 9pm (CET) for our friends to the west of us and in New Zealand

The title of our events is: From toll roads to highways - How the OA Switchboard is building the infrastructure for an OA-driven scholarly communications landscape.

The event will reflect on our journey from idea (2018) to being operational (2021). We'll present our principles and POSI self-assessment, cover tough choices and will share pragmatic solutions. We're happy to share our experiences and enter into discussion with the participants.

Webinars to present the OA Switchboard to the wider community

Last updated 14 September 2021 / Posted 30 October 2020

Webinars are being organised to present the OA Switchboard to the wider community, supported by demonstrations/presentations of real-life use cases by launch customers and founding partners.

Wednesday 8 September 2021
This webinar focused on the shared use case Matching Publication Costs with Publication Funds that our launch customers and founding partners are currently working on collaboratively. The speakers covered a wide range of use cases, covering all kind of business models (APC-based, non-APC based / diamond, subscribe-to-open, transformative agreements, pure OA/publish deals, etc) and a wide range of technical implementations ('connectors') for data feeds from different source systems.

This webinar was free and open to all thanks to the support of our host Aries Systems. The recording of the webinar is available here.
Wednesday 31 March 2021
This webinar focussed on the Reporting Made Easy shared use case our launch customers and founding partners are working on collaboratively. Funders and institutions/consortia would much prefer publishers to report their publication-level OA information in a structured format. This enables data to be fed directly into their own (or their solution provider’s) system for further processing and analysis.

This webinar provided a practical evidence-based look at how the OA Switchboard is making reporting easier via a series of short five minute talks and use case presentations, with time for questions and discussions following. The recording of this webinar is here.

Tuesday 8 December 2020
The OA Switchboard is a tool that can be called upon as and when needed, or integrated in stakeholders’ own systems and workflows to achieve automation and scalability. This webinar brings together participants from publishers, research institutions and our tech partner to present and discuss real-life use cases. Learn what specific challenge they implement the OA Switchboard for and how a simple communication hub can handle many different situations. The unanswered questions posed by attendees via the webinar chat, as well as the recording of this webinar is available here.
Thursday 5 November 2020
Part of the OASPA AGM will also be given to an update on the OA Switchboard project which OASPA has been leading this year. In this webinar we’ll present a status update and insight into our plans. Also, some of our early adopters will present specific use cases they are getting started with in 2021.The recording of this part of the meeting is available here.

SSP 43rd Annual Meeting: Charting a New Course - From Chaos to Innovation

OA Switchboard to present a poster (27 May 2021)

Posted 2 April 2021

Updated 1 June 2021

OA Switchboard participated in SSP's 43rd Annual Meeting (online conference from 24 - 27 May 2021). The full program is here.

The title of our poster is: OA Switchboard, central information exchange hub: Taking charge of multi-lateral OA publication-level arrangements.

NASIG 2021 Conference

Live-streamed OA Switchboard panel (20 May 2021)

Posted 20 February 2021

Updated 9 June 2021

OA Switchboard participated in the 36th annual NASIG Conference (19-21 May 2021) by hosting a panel session. The recorded session is here.

The title of our session was: The OA Switchboard - How a simple, collaborative solution tackles multiple use cases for funders, institutions and publishers, strategically and practically.

ICOLC Meeting Panel

OA Switchboard participates in member-only meeting on 21 April 2021

Updated 21 April 2021 / Posted 8 April 2021

OA Switchboard participated in the ICOLC Meeting Panel during a members-only meeting on 21 April 2021. General information is here, and the ICOLC community can find out more here.

UKSG 44th Annual Conference and Exhibition: Online

OA Switchboard lightning presentation on 13th April 2021

Updated 13 April 2021 / Posted 4 February 2021

OA Switchboard participated in this year's online version of the UKSG Annual Conference on Tuesday 13th April 2021. The full program is here.

The title of our lightning presentation is: OA Switchboard: a mission-driven practical solution, that thrives on collaboration.

30th Annual North Carolina Serials Conference

OA Switchboard Lightning Talk on 9 April 2021

Updated 9 April 2021 / Posted 9 February 2021

OA Switchboard participated in this year's North Caroline Serials Conference on 9 April 2021. The conference website is here.

The title of our Lightning Talk is: How the OA Switchboard is building the infrastructure for an OA-driven scholarly communications landscape.

InformationToday feature article: OA Switchboard, central information exchange hub

Posted 2 February 2021

[Editor's Note: If you heard Yvonne Campfens' inspiring keynote talk at Internet Librarian International 2019 all about creating, innovating, collaborating and what we can learn from startups, you won't be surprised to hear that she has taken her own advice and joined startup OA Switchboard as its executive director. I asked her to tell us about this new venture.]

Read the full article here.

Next steps for Open Access, Westminster Higher Education Forum policy conference

OA Switchboard keynote on 9th July 2021

Posted 24 January 2021

OA Switchboard will participate in the Westminster Higher Education Forum policy conference on Friday 9th July 2021. The theme of the conference is 'Next steps for Open Access' and the full program is here.

The title of our keynote is: Streamlining communication and the neutral exchange of OA-related publication level information - collaborative infrastructure to make the ecosystem work better for everyone.

Outsell Analysis: OA Switchboard addresses an acute need in scholarly communications

Posted: 19 January 2021

OA Switchboard was covered in an Outsell Analysis by Tatiana Khayrullina (Director & Lead Analyst) today, with the title: OA Switchboard Is Ready to Go Live, Addressing an Acute Need in Scholarly Communications.

In the abstract it states: "The OA Switchboard strives to remove technical barriers on the path to OA adoption. Its mission is to smooth out communications among market players, one connection at a time."

Academic Publishing in Europe Conference (APE2021): The New Face of Trust

OA Switchboard opening keynote on Day 2 of the conference

Posted 17 November 2020

Updated 13 January 2021

The OA Switchboard participated in the 2021 Academic Publishing in Europe Conference, as the opening keynote on Day 2 of the conference on Wednesday 13 January 2021. The title of the presentation is: From complexity to transparency: How the OA Switchboard is building a cost-effective collaborative infrastructure solution for an OA-driven scholarly communications landscape.

Our presentation is available here.

NISO Plus 2021

"Collaborate to solve a common problem - OA Switchboard"

Posted 11 December 2020

The OA Switchboard will participate in the NISO Plus Conference, by means of a session on Wednesday 24 February 2021. The title of the presentation is: Collaborate to solve a common problem - OA Switchboard.

The full program of NISO Plus 2021 is here.

Progress report December 2020

Posted 10 December 2020

This post is by Yvonne Campfens, Executive Director of the OA Switchboard

Although many may want to forget all about 2020, I will remember it as a catalyst year, in which inspiring collaboration prepared for the OA Switchboard to go live as an operational solution in 2021. This progress report marks the end of the 2020 OA Switchboard project, and preludes the structural set-up for 2021 and beyond.

Continue reading here

UK collaborates with new body to accelerate global open access

Published 3 December 2020

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Wellcome and Jisc are among the first organisations supporting the establishment of a new body called Open Access Switchboard.

Full announcement here.

Annual Publishing Conference 2020 (Rave Technologies)
Panel on Cross-Publisher OA Logistics

Posted 17 November 2020

Updated 13 January 2021

The OA Switchboard participated in a panel during the Annual Publishing Conference 2020 on Wednesday 9 December 2020 on facilitating Open Access in a publisher-neutral manner.

Our presentation is here.

OASPA founds new organisation with future-proof governance and funding structure for the OA Switchboard

A neutral, independent intermediary enabling shared infrastructure, bringing transparency, efficiency and cost effectiveness to the open access ecosystem

Published 5 November 2020

Full announcement here

CNI Fall Virtual Membership Meeting (November 10-December 15, 2020)

"From toll roads to highways: How the OA Switchboard is building the infrastructure for an OA-driven scholarly communications landscape"

Posted 3 November 2020

Updated 13 January 2021

The OA Switchboard participated in the 2020 CNI Fall Virtual Membership Meeting by means of a Short Update (pre-recorded video) to be made available during Week 3 (December 1-7, 2020).

The theme of week 3 is: Technology, Standards, & Infrastructure

2nd Basel Sustainable Publishing Forum - The Global Transition to Open Access: Challenges and Solutions

"How did we get here? How to move on? How is the OA Switchboard helping?"

Posted 29 October 2020

Updated 13 January 2021

OA Switchboard participated in this virtual conference on 26-27 October 2020: 2nd Basel Sustainable Publishing Forum - The Global Transition to Open Access: Challenges and Solutions.

The title of the paper was: How did we get here? How to move on? How is the OA Switchboard helping?

The recording is available here.

Our presentation is here.

Progress report September 2020

Posted 29 September 2020

API integration workshop (26 August 2020)

Posted 28 August 2020

We’re now in the middle of the Pilot. One of the topics to prove is that we deliver the basics (standards & essential infrastructure). Specifically for, and with, the stakeholders’ partners, we recently organised a very well attended interactive workshop, about technical integration of the OA Switchboard API with these other systems, value-adding solutions on top, so the ambition of an automated, integrated, scalable solution will be achieved.

-- Questions -- Challenges -- Suggestions --

Watch the brainstorm animation here: Where do you see potential challenges with the technical integration to the OA Switchboard?