Background

Initiatives such as the ‘Action Plan for Diamond Open Access’¹ can only be implemented effectively if the resulting publications can be produced and distributed effectively and efficiently in all their media forms. A wide range of research projects have already delivered results for partial aspects of the production chain. The logical next step is to network them and test and apply them in practice. The focus here is on the supporting workflow management systems (WFMS). As with the workflows themselves, a heterogeneous, historically evolved environment can be observed. From monolithic to distributed, from ‘slip of paper workflows’ to self-programmed to highly professional WFMS, all varieties can be found. It should also be noted that supporting systems already exist both for production in university publishers and for the management of OA publications in libraries. The transformation process is already increasing the intersection of library and publishing tasks. The resulting complexity and volume of processes to be managed requires the use of new, supporting WFMS. To this end, there is a need to support the institutional Diamond OA infrastructures, such as OA university publishers at university libraries, in the introduction of suitable WFMS for publication-specific OA workflows.

The basic idea of the research project is based on the hypothesis that the requirements for a WFMS can be fully derived from precise knowledge of the processes in a university publishing house or library. This is based on the results of the OA-HVerlag and OA-STRUKTKOMM projects. With the Open Access publication workflow for academic books², it is already possible to derive, develop and/or describe a wide variety of specific workflows from an overall model.

With the approach of a general communication structure, the data flows within the IT infrastructures that can be derived from the models can also be described. The final building block on the way to implementing the specific solution is the derivation of the requirements for the supporting WFMS in OA university publishers. This problem is the focus of the proposed project and thus contributes to consolidating institutional Diamond OA infrastructures in particular through appropriate management systems.

Literature

¹ Ancion, Z.; Borrell-Damián, L.; Mounier, P.; Rooryck, J.; Saenen, B. (2022): Action Plan for Diamond Open Access. Zenodo. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6282403

² Böhm, D.; Grossmann, A.; Reiche, M.; Schrader, A. (2020): Open Access Publikationsworkflow für akademische Bücher. Ein Handbuch für Hochschulen und Universitäten. Open-Access-Hochschulverlag, Leipzig, DOI: 10.33968/9783966270175-00

³ Böhm, D.; Grossmann, A.; Reiche, M.; Sannemann, S; Tillmann, Diana. (2023): Akademischer Ansatz zum strukturierten Austausch von Inhalten und Metainformationen über die Herstellungs- und Distributionsprozesse von Open-Access-Publikationen. Forschungsbericht. Open-Access-Hochschulverlag, Leipzig, DOI: 10.33968/9783966270557-00