OAPEN Closed projects
PALOMERA
OAPEN
Project Title, acronym and URL
PALOMERA – Policy Alignment of Open Access Monographs in the European Research Area
Project Dates and duration
Jan 2023 – Dec 2024, 2 years
Short Description of the project
PALOMERA investigated the reasons why, in contrary to article publishing in journals, academic books have not been a focus point for open access (OA) policymakers within the European Research Area (ERA). Consequently, books are only rarely mandated to be published OA by research funders and institutions. Based on collected evidence, PALOMERA provided actionable recommendations and concrete resources to support and coordinate aligned funder and institutional policies for OA books.
Short Description of what OAPEN is doing on the project
Sustaining key project results has been a clear ambition for PALOMERA from the start. OAPEN has been deeply involved in the development of these results and will help ensure their durability with a main focus on the following three areas.
Knowledge Base
The PALOMERA Knowledge Base is a rich source for policymakers and other stakeholders who are searching for OA book policies in Europe. It’s an efficient tool for exploration and identification of policies within the 39 countries that we have researched during the project. The technical maintenance of the Knowledge Base is secured by OAPEN and the workflows are being developed by us with support from the community.
OAPEN OA Books Toolkit
The OAPEN OA Books Toolkit now contains a new funder and policy section as a result of the PALOMERA project. This consists of short articles digesting the vast research that we have produced. In this way, our research findings are disseminated to a wide audience since the Toolkit (established in 2020) is already used globally by many stakeholders to gain knowledge about OA book publishing. The Toolkit is overseen by a large editorial advisory board representing relevant stakeholders in the field, promoted widely, and operated by OAPEN.
Policy Forum for OA Books
Building on the PALOMERA Funder Forum, OAPEN, Science Europe, and cOAlition S jointly established a continuation and expansion of the Funder Forum to a new Policy Forum on OA Books. The Policy Forum had its first meeting in May 2025. The purpose of the Policy Forum is to exchange knowledge between OA book policymakers but also – importantly – to address the PALOMERA recommendations in a structured and solution-focussed way.
Link to Website and/or Zenodo community
https://operas-eu.org/projects/palomera/
https://zenodo.org/communities/palomera/records?q=&l=list&p=1&s=10&sort=newest
Funder statement
Funded through EC grant number 101094270 (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101094270)
OPERAS-PLUS
OAPEN
Full Project Title, acronym and URL
On the road to sustainability: paving the way for OPERAS as an efficient open Social Sciences and Humanities scholarly communication Research Infrastructure (OPERAS-PLUS)
Project Dates and duration
Sep 2022 – Aug 2025, 3 years
Short Description of the project
OPERAS-PLUS aimed to support the open scholarly communication process for the Social Sciences and the Humanities in the European Research Area and the development of the infrastructure in its preparatory phase and on its way towards implementation as The European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC).
Short Description of what OAPEN is doing on the project
OAPEN supported the network of national nodes and their national activities; and helped to develop the services portfolio by providing both required technology and a monitoring system for services development.
Website and/or Zenodo community
https://operas-eu.org/projects/operas-plus/
Funder statement
Funded through EC grant number 101079608 (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101079608)