OLH and University of Wales Press partner to convert journal to full open access
Open Library of Humanities to fund press to make journal fully open access
The Open Library of Humanities (OLH) – led by Birkbeck academics – has entered into a partnership with the University of Wales Press to convert the International Journal of Welsh Writing in English into a full, gold open-access journal.
Independent peer-review of this journal called it “an absolutely essential resource for any scholar, student or general reader with an interest in Welsh writing in English”. The recent library board vote admitted this journal, along with five others, with 89.19% of the votes being in favour.
This development marks the first time that the OLH has partnered with a university press to achieve a conversion to open access. The journal will continue to be published by the University of Wales Press using their editorial and production standards but will be housed on the OLH's submission and presentation platform. There will be no author-facing charges to publish in the journal, which will be a gold open-access venue.
Professor Martin Paul Eve, a co-founder and CEO of the OLH and professor of English and Humanities at Birkbeck, said of the partnership: “I am delighted that the Open Library of Humanities is helping to achieve open access through a variety of routes. We are extremely supportive of not-for-profit, mission-driven university presses and are delighted that our libraries are voting to support such partnerships.”
Helgard Krause, Director at the University of Wales Press, said: “UWP is delighted to partner with OLH to move IJWWE to an OA model on the established and reputable OLH platform; the wider access facilitated by OA is especially welcome in this key area of research and scholarship about Wales.”
Dr. Caroline Edwards, a co-founder and CEO of the OLH, and lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck, added: “The International Journal of Welsh Writing in English is a significant publication that was unanimously praised by our rigorous peer-reviewers and editorial admission process. That we are able to support university press publishing in the digital age is a significant development and one that we hope we will be able to extend further in coming years.”
Dr Matthew Jarvis, an editor of the International Journal of Welsh Writing in English, said: “The opportunity to put IJWWE onto the OLH platform is a particularly important moment in the Journal’s life. Becoming a gold open-access publication offers us an exciting chance to increase the Journal's audience and introduce more readers to the study of Wales’s English-language literature.”
Libraries outside the US, UK, EU or Canada interested in joining the OLH Library Partnership Subsidy model should contact Professor Martin Paul Eve: martin.eve@openlibhums.org. UK-based libraries can join through Jisc Collections. US-based libraries can join through LYRASIS at lyrasis.openlibhums.org. European libraries can sign up at http lps.openlibhums.org.
About the OLH
- The Open Library of Humanities (OLH) is a charitable organisation dedicated to publishing open access scholarship with no author-facing article processing charges (APCs). It is funded by an international consortium of libraries who have joined the organisation’s mission to make scholarly publishing fairer, more accessible, and rigorously preserved for the digital future.
- The OLH publishing platform supports academic journals from across the humanities disciplines, as well as hosting its own multidisciplinary journal. Launched as an international network of scholars, librarians, programmers and publishers in January 2013 the OLH has received two substantial grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to date (awarded to the University of Lincoln and to Birkbeck, University of London), and has built a sustainable business model with its partner libraries. The Open Library of Humanities is run by Professor Martin Paul Eve and Dr Caroline Edwards, both at Birkbeck, University of London.
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