Stanford University Press and Public Knowledge Project to Collaborate on Open Access Journal Publishing Program
Information Industry News
Stanford, CA | November 16, 2023
Stanford University Press (SUP) is delighted to announce a new collaboration with the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) aimed at expanding sustainable Open Access (OA) models of journal publishing. Having a distinguished university press join forces with a university-based open infrastructure project represents a significant advance in the academic community’s claim on scholarly publishing’s future.
The Public Knowledge Project, founded 25 years ago and based at Simon Fraser University (SFU), has long been active on the Stanford campus through its founder, Stanford’s Khosla Family Professor of Education Emeritus, John Willinsky. It developed Open Journal System (OJS), a widely acclaimed open source platform that currently manages the editorial workflow and publishing process for over 34,000 journals.
PKP’s global reach is matched by SUP’s scholarly depth, dating back to its first monograph in 1892. New journals that meet SUP’s Editorial Board’s scholarly standards will be able to take advantage of PKP’s journal management and publishing platform, hosting services, and experienced support team to obtain a significant advantage in this highly competitive field.
This initiative, developed in consultation with the Office of Scholarly Communications at the Stanford Libraries, is a response to the rapidly increasing burdens imposed on commercial publishers’ journal editors and their boards in the form of higher article processing charges (APCs) and increased publication rates. This is a partnership of two long-established university organizations. It utilizes the strengths and resources of each to provide journals with an experienced publisher and platform developer that will offer journals both subscribe-to-open and reasonably priced APC paths, increasing access for authors and readers.
“This exciting opportunity to work with Stanford University Press will offer dedicated journal editors and committed societies a rigorous and innovative means of returning scholarly publishing to the academic community for the benefit of all,” said Willinsky, currently Professor of Publishing at SFU.
“The partnership between Stanford University Press and the Public Knowledge Project promises to expand the world of Open Access journal publishing, creating an environment that is more accessible, sustainable, and responsive to the needs of the academic community,” said Alan Harvey, SUP’s Director.
“Open journal publishing at Stanford University Press will enhance the university’s open access landscape, complementing Stanford’s recently adopted Open Access Policy and reflecting the university’s longstanding commitment to sharing knowledge,” said Rochelle Lundy, Director of Stanford Libraries’ Office of Scholarly Communications.
About These Organizations
Stanford University Press publishes 140 books a year across the humanities, social sciences, law, and business. These books inform scholarly debate, generate global and cross-cultural discussion, and bring timely, peer-reviewed scholarship to the wider reading public. At the leading edge of both print and digital dissemination of innovative research, with about 4,000 books currently in print, SUP is a publisher of ideas that matter, books that endure.
The Public Knowledge Project is a Core Facility of Simon Fraser University that has, since 1998, been developing open source (free) publishing platforms, providing publishing services to journals and publishers, and conducting scholarly communication research, all to improve access to research and scholarship. PKP’s work is financed by its services, memberships, and grants, with its open source software benefiting from the larger community’s contributions.