New open access monograph initiative from MIT Press
The MIT Press has launched a new sustainable framework for open access monographs. Direct to Open (D2O) is a collaborative, library-supported open access model which will see institutions funding the global open access publication of all future MIT Press monographs through their contributions, rather than buying titles individually for their own collections. Participation fees will be based on the type, size, and budget of each library, and subscribing libraries will also gain access to an archive of historic MIT Press titles.
UCL hits four million mark
Open access publisher UCL Press has recorded its 4 millionth download since its launch in 2015, just ten months after hitting the 3 million mark. In the last six years, the press’s titles have been downloaded in almost 250 countries and territories; its most popular title, How the World Changed Social Media, has been downloaded almost 500,000 times.
New CEO for Edinburgh
Edinburgh University Press has appointed Nicola Ramsey as Interim CEO, succeeding Timothy Wright, who retires this summer, on 2 June. Ramsay has been Head of Books Editorial at EUP since 2012 and is expected to occupy the role for eighteen months.
Bristol’s Shaw appointed AcSS Fellow
Alison Shaw, Chief Executive of Bristol University Press, has been appointed a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, in recognition of her longstanding commitment to social science scholarship, policymaking and practice, and to widening its impact within and beyond academia. Both BUP and its imprint Policy Press, which marks its 25th anniversary this year, have had a long-standing commitment to publishing for global impact and social change, giving voice to those underrepresented in society.
New journal for Liverpool
Liverpool University Press has partnered with the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society to publish the multi-disciplinary annual journal, Iris an dá chultúr / Eighteenth-Century Ireland. The first issue under the new arrangements will be published later this year.
New support network for female researchers from Emerald
Emerald Publishing has marked International Women’s Day by launching a new support network to help women overcome the challenges to research exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Part of the Emerald Engage platform, the network aims to connect researchers and provide them with ‘a safe space to talk to others, make connections, share ideas and buddy up with more established researchers’. More than twelve hundred female researchers had expressed interest ahead of the launch.
Two new partners for the Open Library of the Humanities
The Open Library of the Humanities has welcomed two new institutions to its Library Partnership Subsidy system: the University of Virginia Library, founded in 1819, and the University of Iowa, founded in 1847.
KU’s Oable solution goes live
Knowledge Unlatched’s new open access management workflow solution Oable has gone live at five libraries in the United States, Austria, and Germany. Iowa State University, Los Alamos National Lab, Z. Smith Reynolds Library of Wake Forest University, the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria, and Forschungszentrum Jülich are all now using the system to manage their OA transactions.
Alastair Horne is a PhD student at the British Library and Bath Spa University.