(Philadelphia, September 28, 2021) Iowa State University, Knowledge Unlatched (KU), and JMIR Publications have signed an agreement to pilot the new Oable workflow management tool to monitor funds and administer Iowa State’s payments for eligible publications in the JMIR Publications portfolio. This pilot brings together three forward-thinking organizations with a shared mission in removing barriers to the widespread adoption of Open Access and Open Science publishing practices. The pilot will run from September 1, 2021, to August 31, 2023.

As part of the larger institutional deal, Iowa State University is protected from any price increases for the length of the agreement and invited to pilot ongoing and future initiatives, such as our Plan P publishing model. Curtis Brundy, Iowa State University Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Communications and Collections, says, “This agreement between ourselves, JMIR, and Knowledge Unlatched brings the clear communication between technology, publishing, and institutions required to advance the library’s support for open access publishing.” 

The Oable workflow solution was developed by Knowledge Unlatched to streamline the management of OA funds and transformational agreements for librarians. Oable combines the most up-to-date policies and procedures available at an institution to support the Open Access publications in one convenient dashboard. On behalf of Iowa State University, Oable receives structured metadata from publishers participating in OA Switchboard, via the standardized messaging protocol, sent to Iowa State University (streamlining the communication via this back end central information exchange hub). Oable also consolidates eligibility and approval checks on accepted articles with a partner institution’s corresponding author and facilitates the payment of their respective article publication charge.

“Our core value, ‘Open Access made simple,’ has guided Oable’s development and implementation from the beginning,“ says Dr Olaf Ernst, Chief Solutions Officer at Knowledge Unlatched. “We are excited to expand on this mission and collaborate with leading organizations committed to Open Science like Iowa State and JMIR.”

Adrian Stanley, General Manager at JMIR, says, “Iowa State has a great history as an innovator and partner in Open Access initiatives, and we’re thrilled to join with Knowledge Unlatched in piloting a promising new solution for librarians.”

JMIR Publications and Knowledge Unlatched will be presenting at this year’s Charleston Conference, discussing how this exciting project came to be and why these partnerships thrive as drivers of innovation. We hope that you’ll attend our online event, “The Unusual Suspects—Collaborating for Improvement With the Pure OA Publishers,” to learn more!

About JMIR Publications

JMIR Publications is a leading, born-digital open access publisher of academic journals and other innovative scientific communication products that focus on medicine, health, and technology. Its flagship journal, the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is the leading digital health journal globally in terms of quality/visibility in the medical informatics category and is the largest journal in the field. 

Contact: joseph.pold@jmir.org 

About Iowa State University

The Iowa State University Library is active in national and international efforts to advance open access. As part of a land-grant university with a mission to create, share, and apply knowledge to make Iowa and the world a better place, the University Library works to ensure the free dissemination and preservation of the university’s research and scholarly outputs. To learn more about our Open Access efforts, visit open.lib.iastate.edu.

Contact: cbrundy@iastate.edu 

About Knowledge Unlatched

Knowledge Unlatched is committed to open access to academic content for readers and researchers around the world. Its online platform is the central point of contact for libraries worldwide to support open access models, book and journal collections of leading publishing houses, and various OA initiatives. 

If you’re an institution interested in piloting the Oable workflow, you can reach out to the team at Knowledge Unlatched for a demo and more information.

Contact: philipp@knowledgeunlatched.org

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