Liverpool University Press (LUP) is pleased to announce that it is adding to its existing Open Access (OA) publishing programmes this June, by launching an innovative monograph funding initiative. In partnership with COPIM, LUP will be rolling out an Open
LUP has a long history of publishing in the Romance languages, and in open access publishing: they’ve explored many avenues, from BPCs to Green OA, and have been publishing OA books since 2010. This new Opening the Future programme sees them expand this commitment to disseminating research globally, and by harnessing the power of collective library funding no single institution bears a disproportionate burden.
Anthony Cond, Liverpool University Press CEO, said, “The strategic and societal importance of understanding different languages and cultures demands evolving models of research dissemination. The Opening the Future membership scheme is forward-looking and offers a new pathway to impact in a vital field, and Liverpool University Press is well-placed to be an early pioneer. We have been a publisher of open access books for more than a decade and a publisher of high quality Hispanic Studies research for more than a century. Now in 2021 Opening the Future will renew our commitment to open access in the modern languages.”
The programme and platform were initially devised and launched by Work Package 3 of the COPIM project - a partnership of researchers, librarians, publishers and infrastructure providers. WP3 lead, Professor Martin Paul Eve, based at Birkbeck, University of London, said “We’re really excited to be working with LUP on this launch. In October 2020 we established a similar programme with Central European University Press to give member access to (and fund new OA) books on post-Communist Europe and transitions to democracy; so we’re now seeing Opening the Future become a viable option for sustaining publishing in areas of research that span different cultures and the globe. Through this initiative, libraries will gain online access to excellent research, enhancing their collections in Latin American Studies, and contemporary Hispanic and Lusophone cultures. At the same time, their membership fees will enable Liverpool University Press to publish new monographs in these research areas but this time as open access and available to anyone all over the world”. Along with COPIM, LUP is partnering with LYRASIS to facilitate library membership participation in the USA and Canada.
If you’d like to know more about how your library can join Opening the Future, including fees and what books you will get access to, more information can be found at lup.openingthefuture.net. If you have OA funds, or if your library doesn’t need access to the backlist, you can still subscribe to an OA Supporter Membership. If you’d like to discuss this announcement or would like more information not answered in the FAQs then please contact Martin Paul Eve at martin.eve@bbk.ac.uk and Anthony Cond at a.cond@liverpool.ac.uk.
---ENDS---
MORE INFORMATION
For libraries or other institutions that want to support the move to immediate OA, without author-facing charges, more information can be found at https://lup.openingthefuture.net/. For further details on the pricing and structure of the model, see the About page and FAQs.
About Liverpool University Press
Liverpool University Press is the UK’s third oldest university press, with a distinguished history of publishing exceptional research since 1899, including the work of Nobel prize winners. LUP has rapidly expanded in recent years to become an award-winning academic publisher that produces approximately 150 books a year, 39 journals and a number of digital collections, specialising in literature, modern languages, history, and film studies.
About COPIM
COPIM is an international partnership of researchers, universities, librarians, open access book publishers and infrastructure providers supported by the Research England Development Fund as a major development project in the Higher Education sector with significant public benefits, and by the Arcadia Foundation.
Contact details for further information
a.cond@liverpool.ac.uk
Anthony Cond
Chief Executive Officer
Liverpool University Press
martin.eve@bbk.ac.uk
Martin Paul Eve
Professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing
Birkbeck, University of London / COPIM