Knowledge Unlatched Launches KU Open Services

Berlin, 11th September 2017 Knowledge Unlatched (KU) is pleased to open its services to publishers with Open Services, designed to help publishers achieve greater impact for their Open Access (OA) books. The new service is an additional offer for those OA titles that have not been financed through KU’s traditional crowd funding model.

The service has been tailor-made to meet increasing demands from publishers, libraries, and researchers for greater discoverability of their OA titles. By utilising leading hosting platforms, indexing databases, and archives, alongside easy importation into library catalogues and measures to reduce double-dipping, KU offers seamless and effective management of the discoverability process. Furthermore, KU provides quarterly usage reports, offering complete transparency throughout the process, and supplying the data needed to demonstrate the real impact of OA publications.

KU is delighted to announce that eight leading publishers have already expressed their support for the initiative. Transcript Verlag, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau, V&R unipress, Academic Studies Press, The University of North Carolina Press, University Press of Hawaii, and The University Press of Colorado have all already partnered with KU to take advantage of the new service.

“Open Access publishing is more than just making titles available, it is all about making them visible to readers”, says Darrin Pratt, Director of the University Press of Colorado. “With its new service, KU addresses a vital need in the OA book landscape.”

“Open Access for books is one of the fastest growing segments in academic publishing,” says Dr. Sven Fund, KU’s Managing Director. “While Knowledge Unlatched is about generating financial support for OA from libraries, our new services focus on bridging the gap between publishers and libraries when it comes to vital flows of information.”

More information about the KU Open Service and the benefits for publishers can be found here.

About Knowledge Unlatched:

Knowledge Unlatched (KU) offers free access to scholarly content for every reader across the world. Our online platform provides libraries worldwide with a central place to support Open Access models from leading publishing houses and new OA initiatives.

Contact: Hannah Schroder, Publicity & Communications, hannah@knowledgeunlatched.org

Read or download the PDF versions of this press release in English or German.