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COPIM releases free code for Open Access project sign up system

Making software freely available for any publisher to adapt and use themselves

Published onJan 29, 2021
COPIM releases free code for Open Access project sign up system
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The Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs project (COPIM) has today released the code originally written for their Opening the Future initiative, which collects and processes library signups. This release makes the software freely available for any publisher to adapt and use themselves - it is a generic signup system for open-access projects that have consortial membership models.

Available on Github at https://github.com/BirkbeckCTP/otf-signup, features of the system include order tracking, billing management, notification of new sign ups, and access control for backlist packages of books. The software is already in use on the Opening the Future website, where a pilot project with CEU Press is live and taking memberships - the Press will use membership fees to freely publish new open access (OA) content. More information on that initiative and its ethos can be found on the project’s Resources page.

Forthcoming toolkit

This code will be one component of a practical ‘toolkit’ that COPIM WP3 will produce on how presses might transition to sustainably publishing OA monographs. Other elements of the toolkit will include a report reviewing revenue models in OA publishing, financial modelling spreadsheets, communication and advocacy materials, and more.

COPIM Work Package 3 leader Martin Eve (Professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing at Birkbeck, University of London) said

“Special thanks go to Andy Byers at the Birkbeck Centre for Technology and Publishing for his work on the platform. We are pleased to make this flexible and adaptable platform freely-available so that presses worldwide might use it to flip to OA monograph publishing”. 

Feedback and comments welcome

COPIM WP3 welcomes feedback on the software and CEU Press pilot, and/or on any other aspect of the project. Please contact [email protected], or for technical queries get in touch with Professor Eve on [email protected].

Follow COPIM on Twitter @COPIMproject


Image credit: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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