OpenEdition Freemium, an innovative programme for open access to scientific publishing

OpenEdition Freemium is an innovation in the domain of open-access academic publishing. It is based on a hybrid economic model combining open-access to information and paid services generating income for the producers of its resources. The program offers the perfect opportunity to place libraries at the heart of the development of open-access publication. It is Cléo’s way of offering libraries and publishers a mean to create a sustainable alliance to promote open-access in the humanities and social sciences. Two-thirds of income is allocated to those journals and partner publishers who adopt the freemium model. The other third enables us to develop the platform. All income created by OpenEdition Freemium is then reinvested in the development of open-access academic publishing.

From February 2011, the OpenEdition Freemium program offered by the Centre for Open Electronic Publishing (Cléo) will enable libraries:

• to access six premium services specially designed to respond to their needs;
• to take part in the construction of an economic model for open access and find an alternative to restricted access platforms, which constrict users and diminish the impact of academic production;
• to create a dynamic which will incite more journals of quality to become open-access.

OpenEdition Freemium, a package with 6 main services

1. Premium access to the open-access journal and book collection service

Libraries subscribing to OpenEdition Freemium will be able to offer unlimited, DRM-free download access to PDF, ePub and Mobipocket files of the articles of the 75 journals which have adopted the OpenEdition Freemium model.

Library access to the dedicated platform: headlining of new publications, thematic resource selection, advanced search engines, fast access to downloadable resources.

2. Assistance and training

Libraries and campuses who sign up to OpenEdition Freemium will have direct access, by email and telephone, to a technical assistant who will answer any questions relating to the platform’s functioning and the state of collections. On-site or online training, in French or English, of library staff, including the presentation of documentary resources, the platform’s functions and what is new in OpenEdition.

3. Data services and supply

The catalogue of journals and books available on Revues.org has been made user-friendlier by making its references available in the MARC format. Libraries subscribing to OpenEdition Freemium can automatically integrate these records in their ILMS.

Library users can easily integrate Calenda events into their electronic diaries using iCal format automatic export.

Library users will have access to a system of customised alerts “offered by the library”, enabling them to automatically receive email alerts about academic events taking place in their discipline or in their region.

Library users will also have access to a customised alert system, offered by the library, enabling them to automatically receive email alerts based on free keywords. For example, a notification requested about “John Smith” will warn the user every time the name appears on Revues.org, Calenda, and Hypotheses.org. It is also possible to create a search for articles published by this author.

Library users will also have access to a customised alert system enabling them to automatically receive email notifications about new publications in their discipline. E.g.: a notification requested for Gender Studies will warn the user each time a new journal, article, book, call for papers, conference, or research notebook, etc, appears relating to this subject on OpenEdition.

Users have access to Calenda’s database using simple requests relating to all available fields (dates, places, categories, event partners, etc.). Requests use the Calenda web service, an API which produces data flows in several formats (ATOM, JSON, RSS, iCal). They can be displayed and consulted on all types of website, like institutions’ own digital workspaces, documentary platforms, and departmental or laboratory web pages.

4. Indicators

Access is also available to campus statistics in accordance with the COUNTER norm (the SUSHI protocol will be supported from 2012). We also supply editorial statistics tables, accessible online and sent monthly by email featuring:

• lists of the most consulted publications and documents by title;
• lists of referrer sites collated by type (search engines, blogs, documentary platforms, online encyclopaedias);
• visual statistics with progression curves for all types of information (visits, visitors, pages visited, referrer sites, connection country, etc.).

5. Information and documentation

Subscriber libraries regularly receive newsletters keeping them informed of developments to OpenEdition Freemium, new additions to platforms and Cléo’s activities promoting journals and libraries including:

• training sessions, public presentations and various conferences;
• posters and notices relating to Cléo’s three platforms and Cléo’s own activities: training, conferences, the open electronic publishing summer university, THATCamp Paris (a Digital humanities “unconference”), etc.
• printed documentation in French and English relating to the three platforms: Revues.org, Calenda and Hypotheses.org user guides; the catalogue of works available on Revues.org.
• screencast and video files demonstrating the functions available for inclusion on the documentary platforms’ help pages.

6. Management

Libraries opting for the premium services can participate in the Cléo users’ committee’s activities. The committee is composed of publishers of journals and book series on Revues.org, publishers of research notebooks on Hypotheses.org, Calenda partner institutions and libraries. The users’ committee meets once a year and is constantly engaged in development work through workgroups operating in situ or at a distance on such areas as referencing and bibliometrics, internationalisation, bibliographical tools, the quality of metadata, and the relationship with libraries, among others. The members of the user committee receive Cléo’s annual activity report (in French).

Information and subscriptions

Libraries and institutions may request a trial period of the Freemium programme. Subscription rates are available on the Centre for open electronic publishing website.

Couperin member libraries should refer to the OpenEdition Freemium state of trade available on Couperin website.

For further information, please contact:

Jean-Christophe Peyssard
jean-christophe.peyssard@revues.org
+33 (0)4 13 55 09 80

Cléo (Centre pour l’édition électronique ouverte)
CNRS - EHESS - Université de Provence - Université d’Avignon
3, place Victor Hugo, Case n°86, 13331 Marseille Cedex 3, France
http://cleo.cnrs.fr