PALOMERA Deliverable 4.3 - Report Describing Services A and B

Delivering on its mission, PALOMERA has developed a rich Knowledge Base (KB) containing over 650 open access (OA) policy and related documents, a report describing the results of over 450 responses from across the ERA to a large survey performed by the project, and a set of 40 stakeholder interviews. The Knowledge Base forms the basis of the research undertaken in WP3 providing a unique overview of the OA books policy landscape in Europe. Some of this research has been distilled into short and well communicated articles published through the OAPEN OA Books Toolkit.

Moreover, actionable recommendations have been developed to eight stakeholder groups based on this research and the Knowledge Base. To support the alignment of OA books policies, two services have been developed/designed as per the Grant Agreement: 1) the Funder Forum has been established where research funders and policymakers benefit from knowledge exchange and mutual learning, and 2) a Policy Development Tool has been conceptualised to help funders and institutions navigate the process of policy formulation and implementation. Both services are envisioned to support the project’s overall goal of accelerating the transition to open access for books. Whereas the Funder Forum could provide a useful instrument for RFOs and RPOs for knowledge exchange, mutual learning and coordination of services to support the implementation of OA book policies and strategies, the Policy Development Tool holds the potential to specifically help those RFOs and RPOs who want to develop a policy. Furthermore, the Policy Development Tool would also be closely aligned with the Funder Forum, where the tool could be further developed to better serve the needs of the RFOs in consultation with RPOs.

This deliverable (D4.3) will describe these two services. Both services are intended to support and help coordinate aligned development of policies and strategies for OA books as defined in the Grant Agreement as the outcomes of T4.2 (WP4). In the Grant Agreement the two services are named Service A (the Funder Forum) and Service B (the Policy Development Tool). The deliverable will describe how the Funder Forum was established and provide a brief summary of each of the four Funder Forum meetings held during the project and their outcomes. Moreover, it will stipulate a sustainability plan for the Funder Forum to ensure its continuation beyond the project’s lifetime in alignment with the project’s exploitation plan.

The deliverable will also describe the concept design of the Policy Development Tool (Service B). This tool will be described as a potential exploitable outcome of the building of the Knowledge Base (WP2), and based on the research (WP3) and the recommendations (WP4). The idea of the service is to provide RFOs and RPOs with a tool helping them to formulate and implement policies and strategies for OA books.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.