Vision

The mission of the OPuS foundation is to independently promote and improve open access to publications and research data for academic and practical research.

OPuS aims to improve the innovation of academic communication by exploring and stimulating new business models, using the academic community’s existing infrastructure where possible. To this end, the traditional combination of publisher activities must be divided among several parties. An essential element here is that copyright is not exclusively transferred to one of the participating parties.

OPuS will achieve this objective by:

  • Exploration: monitoring developments, stimulating or organising discussions on innovation, carrying out exploration at national and international level, all focused on new business models for all types of academic publications.
  • Identifying opportunities for projects (including pilots), including possible research into a business case and the possible testing of pilot projects in a “laboratory environment”.
  • Actually initiating projects including the search for partners and possible sponsors.
  • Contacting parties who will structurally incorporate the results of successful projects in their normal organisation, including ensuring comprehensive funding.
  • Setting up support programmes for innovation, including in the area of copyrights.

Projects will be carried out by one or more of the OPuS participants and preferably also implemented under the responsibility of one or more participants.

If successful, OPuS will be responsible for:

  • dissemination of the results with a view to upscaling,
  • generating administrative support for the innovation in question,
  • ensuring continuity by finding a party that will take responsibility for this continuity.

A more detailed account of this approach can be found in ‘A Vision of some Dutch Stakeholders on the Future of Academic Publishing’ and ‘More ideas from a number of Dutch Stakeholders on the Future of Academic Publishing’ , which the initiators of OPuS wrote upon request of the EU.

Governance

The foundation board will have the following tasks:

  • defining the mission and vision of OPuS:
  • actively conveying this vision and promoting communication on it;
  • deciding on admission of participants and determining the contribution of these participants;
  • deciding on the support for one or more of the participants and establishing the conditions under which this support will be given;
  • deciding on initiating the exploration of a new activity and allocation of resources;
  • deciding on the implementation of projects, the project organisation (preferably under the responsibility of one of the participants) and the allocation of resources;
  • monitoring the progress of activities initiated and/or supported by OPuS;
  • periodically evaluating the results and adjusting policy where necessary.

Founders
OPuS is a non-profit foundation initially established by:

Current board members
Bas Savenije (former director of the National Library of the Netherlands), Natalia Grygierczyk (director of Radboud University Library), Henk Wals (director of the International Institute of Social History of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), Eelco Ferwerda (Director Oapen foundation) and Menno Rasch (Project Manager of Information and Technology Services at Utrecht University).

OPuS – Vision On The Future Of Academic Publishing [pdf]
OPuS – More Ideas From Dutch Stakeholders On The Future Of Academic Publishing [pdf]