Open Access Planning Guides

[Kerri Allen <kerri@arl.org>]

For Immediate Release
July 16, 2003

For more information, contact:
Kerri Allen, <mailto:kerri@arl.org>
<http://www.arl.org/sparc>

OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE PUBLISHES UPDATED BUSINESS PLANNING GUIDES FOR 
OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS

Web-based Guides Developed by SPARC Consulting Group Focus on Launch,
Operation and Sustainability of Free Journals

Washington, DC - The Information Program of the Open Society Institute
(OSI), along with SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources
Coalition), today announced three new publications for developers and
publishers of open access journals.

The "Guide to Business Planning for Launching a New Open Access Journal"
and the "Guide to Business Planning for Converting a Subscription-based
Journal to Open Access" were first published in February 2003 and are now
available in updated editions. A new companion volume, "Model Business
Plan: A Supplemental Guide for Open Access Journal Developers &
Publishers," is also available. All three publications, which were
developed under contract with the SPARC Consulting Group, are accessible
online free of charge for viewing and downloading from the OSI Web site
<http://www.soros.org/openaccess>.

The Guide for a new open access journal focuses on how to plan for the
launch, ongoing operation, and long-term sustainability of a new scholarly
journal under a business model that provides for free access to research
on an ongoing basis. The Guide for an existing subscription-based journal
addresses the interests of those contemplating or in the process of
converting to an open access model. The supplemental Model Business Plan
is a chapter-by-chapter handbook for developing a complete business and
financial plan.

"The updated and revised editions reflect recent important developments
and newly-emerging business strategies. With these publications, the Open
Society Institute continues to build on its already strong commitment to
open access," said Melissa Hagemann, Program Manager of the Open Access
Project at OSI. "These are the first comprehensive guides to business
planning specifically for open access journals, and OSI has published them
in order to encourage and assist planners, developers, and publishers of
new or converted open access journals in any field of science and
scholarship."

"SPARC is pleased to have collaborated with the Open Society Institute on
this important project to present realistic business and financial
planning tools for open access journals," said Rick Johnson, SPARC
Enterprise Director. "These Guides answer a tremendous need in the
scholarly community."

The SPARC Consulting Group's Senior Consultants, Raym Crow and Howard
Goldstein, co-authored the Guides. The SPARC Consulting Group provides
business, financial, and strategic consulting services to universities and
university presses,learned societies, and other academic and nonprofit
organizations.

Typically, open access alternatives to subscription-based journals are
published by educational and nonprofit entities such as universities,
libraries, learned and professional societies and associations, consortia,
and independent nonprofit corporations.  Increasingly, however, for-profit
publishers are recognizing the potential role of integrating open access
models into their businesses, and the new Guides may serve their interests
as well.  Additionally, they may also be useful to potential grantors or
other financial supporters when evaluating proposals or grant requests and
business plans for open access journal initiatives.

###

Open Society Institute

The Open Society Institute-Budapest  <http://www.osi.hu> is a private 
operating and grantmaking foundation that develops and implements a 
range of programs in civil society, culture, education, media, public 
administration, public health,and human and women's rights, as well 
as social, legal and economic reform. OSI-Budapest is part of the 
Soros foundations network, an informal network of organizations 
established and supported by investor and philanthropist George 
Soros, and active in more than 50 countries worldwide. Together with 
the New York-based Open Society Institute, OSI-Budapest provides 
support and assistance to Soros foundations in Central and Eastern 
Europe and the former Soviet Union, Guatemala, Haiti, Mongolia, and 
Southern and West Africa.

SPARC Consulting Group

The SPARC Consulting Group 
<http://www.arl.org/sparc/core/index.asp?page=k0> provides business, 
financial, and strategic consulting services to universities and 
university presses, learned societies, and other academic and 
nonprofit organizations. It supports the development, launch and 
operation of scholarly communications projects by helping make them 
more competitive, financially self-sufficient, and better equipped to 
serve scholars and the marketplace.

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Kerri Allen
Communications Manager
SPARC -- The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition
21 Dupont Circle, Ste. 800, Washington, DC  20036 USA
T: 202 296 2296 x121 * F: 202 872 0884 * E: kerri@arl.org
http://www.arl.org/sparc    http://www.sparceurope.org
http://www.arl.org/sparc/DI
http://www.createchange.org