European University of Technology Launches Open Access Academic Press
In a significant step forward for the European University of Technology (EUt+), an Academic Press was launched today on its Irish campus in Dublin, publishing and disseminating high-quality scholarly works using a free to read and publish open-access platform.
The Press will publish cutting-edge scholarship written by EUt+ colleagues, making it accessible to the widest possible audience without paywalls. Moreover, it will provide a sustainable method of capturing and disseminating "really useful knowledge" presented in seminars, conference papers and working papers, which often disappears after the event.
Commenting on the launch, John O'Connor, Strategic Lead (European University), TU Dublin, said, "Open access publishing is increasingly promoted as the preferred, or even the required mechanism, for publicly funded research and scholarly activities, as a means of reducing costs, broadening the availability of scholarship, and using innovative formats. The EUt+ Academic Press provides a platform for works that are attractive to commercial publishers, supports ground-breaking, innovative research, especially cross-disciplines, supports the Sciences, Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and assists teaching activity by the inclusion of material such as open-access textbooks and educational resources."
Open access university presses are now an accepted feature of the publishing landscape. Increasingly, funders are mandating open access to books and journals. While the Directory of Open Access Journals lists over 12,000 open access journals, The Directory of Open Access Books lists 13,287 peer-reviewed books and chapters from 285 publishers. In addition, statistics from the US indicate that 26% of consumers use eBooks, primarily because they are cheaper.
The online presence of the publications will support a host of new metrics, all demonstrating the impact of EUt+ academia and research. Furthermore, using technology, it will be possible to publish in innovative ways: the material can be interactive, hyperlinked, and multi-formatted, and the online format allows for the publication of varying lengths and structures, with excellence in scholarship being the decisive factor.
TU Dublin is currently hosting the EUt+ general task review workshop; more information is available here.