KOALA - Establishing Consortial Open Access Solutions

Abstract

In the KOALA (Konsortiale Open-Access-Lösungen aufbauen) project, consortial solutions for financing open access publications are being established. Collaborative funding of open access journals and book series by academic libraries is an alternative to the dominant model, in which articles are paid for individually by authors or their institutions through APC (article processing charges). During the project period from April 2021 to March 2023, the TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology will work with the Communication, Information, Media Centre (KIM) of the University of Konstanz to establish at least one such consortium as a funding partner for open access periodicals. The project is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research. Within the project framework, further analyses will be carried out and conversions of periodicals to open access will be accompanied. In addition, a central helpdesk for editors who need help with the transition to open access or with finding sustainable funding will be created. The infrastructure created by KOALA enables fair and sustainable financing of quality-assured open access publications. It contributes to removing financial hurdles for authors and thus facilitates participation in open access publications. The conference poster will outline the purpose and central objectives of KOALA, as well as describing the key points for the perspective of libraries, editors and publishers. For our initial exploration of their perspectives, we are seeking active involvement from these stakeholders and will be entering into a dialogue with them. For the poster’s visualisation, we will draw on the image of a koala’s natural habitat: the key points and objectives of the project will be illustrated against the backdrop of a eucalyptus tree.