OpenAPC and Knowledge Unlatched launch public dataset on Book Processing Charges

Knowledge Unlatched (KU) and OpenAPC, operated by the University of Bielefeld, are expanding the OpenAPC dataset to support the inclusion of Book Processing Charges (BPCs). The first deposit includes all of the payments made by KU to publishers for the KU Select programs, equalling almost 1,000 books. KU is also planning to share further transactional data for the other collections for which it collects funding.

 “Since its inception, KU has been sharing impact reports and financial information with customers and the public. Providing transparency around our publisher payments is therefore a natural extension and one that should inform stakeholders to help speed up the transition of Open Access (OA) monographs” says Max Mosterd, Head of Operations & Analytics at KU. “Over the summer, KU will further engage with its partners to also promote the BPCs for its other programs.”

The extension of OpenAPC with the KU contribution marks the start of a new public database for OA books. Dirk Pieper, Deputy Director of Bielefeld University Library, states: “We are delighted with this extension and growth into a more comprehensive dataset. We invite other funders of OA books to follow and share their data so that we can build an informative resource for the OA book community.”

The current dataset, which will be expanded after the summer, can be found here: treemaps.intact-project.org/apcdata/bpc.

About Knowledge Unlatched (KU): Knowledge Unlatched (KU) offers free access to scholarly content for every reader across the world. Our online platform provides libraries worldwide with a central place to support Open Access models from leading publishing houses and new OA initiatives.

About OpenAPC: The Open APC initiative releases datasets on fees paid for open access journal articles and books by universities, research institutions and funders under an open database license. Open APC, which is also supported by the DINI Working Group Electronic Publishing is part of the INTACT project and located at Bielefeld University Library.