About us

The OAPEN Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation based in the Netherlands, with its registered office at the National Library in The Hague. OAPEN is dedicated to open access, peer-reviewed books.

OAPEN operates three platforms:

OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) was developed as a 30-month targeted project co-funded by the EU in its eContentplus-program (2008-2010). The goal of the project was to achieve a sustainable publication model for academic books in humanities and social sciences and to improve the visibility and usability of high quality academic research in Europe. After the close of the project, OAPEN continued its activities as a foundation.

OAPEN Foundation was established by the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the University of Leiden (UL), the University library of Utrecht University (UU), the Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and Amsterdam University Press (AUP).

Mission

OAPEN’s goals are:

  • to build a branded collection of open access peer-reviewed titles;
  • to increase the visibility and retrievability of high-quality publications;
  • to promote open access book publishing.

Governance Structure

Supervisory Board

The Supervisory Board consists of the following members:

  • Kimmo Tuominen (Chair), Director General, The National Library of Finland (Kansalliskirjasto)
  • Kurt De Belder (Vice-Chair), Director, Leiden University
  • Antia Wiersma (Audit Committee), Director, Royal Netherlands Historical Society at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)
  • Charles Watkinson, Associate University Librarian for Publishing, University of Michigan / Director, University of Michigan Press
  • Lidia Borrell-Damián, Secretary General, Science Europe
  • Reinier Groen (Audit Committee), Managing Director Quality & Risk & Financial Reporting, OpGroen Verzekeringen B.V.

Advisory Board

In 2021 an Advisory Board was established. The role of the Advisory Board is to provide the Supervisory Board with solicited and unsolicited advice on the business matters of OAPEN. The Advisory Board also has the right to render a binding nomination for one member of the OAPEN Supervisory Board.

The Advisory Board comprises members from different stakeholder groups and geographical regions. The members are:

  • Marin Dacos (until end of 2025), National Open Science Coordinator, French Ministry of Science
  • Regula Graf (until end of 2025), Scientific Officer, Swiss National Science Foundation
  • Wendy Queen (until end of 2025), Chief Transformation Officer, Johns Hopkins University Press
  • Elisabeth Elbers (until end of 2026), Publisher, Radboud University Press
  • Cameron Neylon (until end of 2026), Professor of Research Communications, Curtin University, Co-lead COKI
  • Claire Redhead (until end of 2026), Director, OASPA
  • Alex Kohls (until end of 2027), Group Leader, CERN Scientific Information Service
  • Iva Melinscak Zlodi (until end of 2027), Scholarly communication librarian, University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Organisational Structure

OAPEN Articles of Association

You can find OAPEN’s Articles of Association linked.