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April 6, 2022

Next Generation Library Publishing and Janeway Systems Launch Pilot with Five Library Publishers

Library-based publishers at the Claremont Colleges, Clemson University, the University of Arizona, the University of New Orleans, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, will test the Next Generation Library Publishing (NGLP) project’s open source infrastructure as part of a pilot launching this month. The pilot, led by Janeway Systems, will provide a turnkey solution that combines journal and IR publishing with end-to-end services, empowering library publishers to grow their programs through open source software tailored to their needs.

Over the past few years, NGLP has been working to transform library publishing, architecting new and existing open source software, bringing in mission-aligned services that align with NGLP’s values-based assessment frameworks providers to host, and designing the business models to support the sustainability of this new ecosystem. 

NGLP and partnering service provider, Janeway, are now ready to test this new model for library publishing with pilot implementations that bring code and services to life.

Janeway Systems will provide technology and support services for the pilot in collaboration with code developers Cast Iron Coding and Cottage Labs. The pilot will implement NGLP’s new open source software for web delivery and analytics, alongside Janeway for journal submission and peer review.

Several pilot partners cited NGLP’s focus on the community in shaping software development, governance, and partnerships, as a motivating factor in their participation.

Erin Jerome, Library Publishing & Institutional Repository Librarian at UMass Amherst said: “We believe that investing in the process of working closely with the library publishing community to design a suite of tools that have the functionality we need as open access publishers is crucial to supporting and growing library publishing programs everywhere.”

Jeanne Pavy, Scholarly Communication & Collection Development Librarian at the University of New Orleans (UNO), explained: “This community-centered project has the potential to transform scholarly publishing by empowering institutions of all sizes to develop publishing programs with partners who share their commitment to an open and equitable scholarly communications system. We are inspired by this vision of library publishing and are eager to be a part of the community that will make it happen.”

Pilot participants also highlighted the importance of working with values-aligned partners who understand the specific needs of mission-driven publishers.

John Morgenstern, Director at the Clemson University Press explained: “We strive to cover costs while disseminating quality, trusted information as broadly and as openly as possible. The NGLP pilot stands to remove a fundamental obstacle to expanding our open-access journals program by developing a serviced platform designed precisely for the workflows of journal publishing. A journals platform developed and operated by a team who shares our values, which is funded by a consortium of libraries and university presses (as opposed to for-profit vendors), stands to transform radically the entire ecosystem of scholarly publishing. Clemson is honored to participate in the pilot and to contribute toward much needed change.”

NGLP’s software and service model will infuse community values into a suite of sustainable software and services, offering options that meet the needs of library publishers over the long term.

Ellen Dubinsky and Yan Han, Librarians for Scholarly Communication and Research Engagement at the University of Arizona Libraries said: “The NGLP project represents the scholarly and library publishing community’s great strides toward creating viable, alternative publishing infrastructure that supports open research communication. As long-time publishers of open access content through our repository and journal publishing service, we are excited to join the pilot and contribute to the development of a publishing system that aligns with our values, integrates with our existing publishing platforms, and enhances user experience through a discovery interface and analytics dashboard.”

Jennifer Beamer, Interim Head of Scholarly Communications and Open Publishing Services at the Claremont Colleges, is excited at the opportunity for the Claremont faculty, who are Open Journal Editors, to explore alternative platforms for communicating open access research. Beamer explained: “As a library publisher supporting a consortium of seven colleges, we are engaged in finding sustainable community solutions to publishing, and the NGLP is an excellent opportunity to explore this way of working further.”

The pilot launching this month will allow the NGLP team to refine workflows and features, develop a roadmap for the next phase of development, and begin building a user and developer community. Regular updates on the pilot will be made available through the Educopia blog and at www.nglp2022.org. Two more pilot announcements will be made in April and May, one from the California Digital Library (CDL) and another from Longleaf and the University of North Carolina Press. 

Next steps beyond the pilot period will include continued software development, exploring migration support, testing a wider range of potential services with additional pilot partners, and working on governance and business models with key stakeholders.  

 

About the Next Generation Library Publishing Project

Educopia, California Digital Library (CDL), and Strategies for Open Science (Stratos), in close partnership with Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR), Janeway Systems, and Longleaf Services are working to advance and integrate open source publishing infrastructure to provide robust support for library publishing. The project’s purpose is to improve publishing pathways and choices for authors, editors, and readers through strengthening, integrating, and scaling up scholarly publishing infrastructure to support library publishers. In addition to developing interoperable publishing tools and workflows, our team is exploring how to create community hosting models that align explicitly and demonstratively with academic values. The project is generously funded by Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. 

About Janeway 

Janeway is a digital platform designed for publishing scholarly research material. Launched in 2017, the platform provides a workflow for the submission, processing and presentation of scholarly materials. It is developed by Professor Martin Eve, Mauro Sanchez and Andy Byers at the Centre for Technology and Publishing, Birkbeck, University of London, and the Open Library of Humanities, UK. For more information about Janeway and its hosting packages, please visit: https://janeway.systems/.