Niels Stern

So much happened at OAPEN and DOAB during 2025 which you can read about in our Highlights 2025. Overwhelming but also reassuring to look back while we are already well into 2026. Thanks to our brilliant team, our fantastic partners, to all the libraries, publishers, and funders supporting us.

Smaller publishers are vital to scholarly communication. Their ability to transition sustainably to #OA is constrained by structural inequities of scale, resources, and systemic barriers.

🚀 We’ve launched a new deposit workflow!
Faster. Clearer. More intuitive. ✨
Find out what’s new and how it improves the submission experience.
👉🔗 buff.ly/6L5p5la
#OpenAccess #Research #Repositories #ScholComm

Thank you for your understanding as we carry out this essential work to improve service reliability.

#OAPEN #OpenAccess #Infrastructure #ScholarlyCommunication #Metadata #Libraries

🔗 All publications and data will remain accessible via persistent Handle links, even if browsing and search are affected.

✅ This maintenance affects only the OAPEN Library; the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) will remain fully operational.

🔧 As part of our ongoing technical maintenance, we’ll be re-indexing Solr for the OAPEN Library this weekend.

Solr powers browsing and search in the OAPEN Library via DSpace. Periodic full re-indexing helps maintain performance, stability, and accurate discovery.

At @oapenbooks.bsky.social we are struggling with bad AI robotic scraping behaviour. I am thankful to the organisers of #OxFOS26 for giving me the opportunity to share our concerns at their event on 2nd March.

Very thankful to Abrizah Abdullah and Kruti Trivedi for helping me making this session at the #CharlestonAsia conference on #openaccess books in Asia so insightful.

I see much potential for @doabooks.bsky.social supporting South East Asia open access book publishing initiatives.

One week to go until #CharlestonAsia! @chashub.bsky.social

If you're there, join @nielsstern.bsky.social on the panel 'Open Access Books in Aisa - What's the Status?' with pannelists from Nepal and India 🌏

Full conference agenda 👉 buff.ly/j5VuHAw

Important update for our community. More details in the blog below 👇

#OAbooks #OpenInfrastructure #OpenAccess #AI

Starting now at the Charleston Conference @nielsstern.bsky.social participating in the ‘Bot war’ panel #Chs2025 #Charleston2025 @gluejar.com

Thrilled to share this blog post oapen.hypotheses.org/1733 introducing our new Head of Technology at @oapenbooks.bsky.social and @doabooks.bsky.social, Anna Wałek - a warm welcome, Anna.

⚠️Technical work in progress
You may have recently experienced some instability on our platform. This was caused by exceptionally high levels of automated traffic. Our team has implemented solutions that are gradually restoring stability. We apologise for any inconvenience & thanks for your patience.

⚠️Technical work in progress
You may have recently experienced some instability on our platform. This was caused by exceptionally high levels of automated traffic. Our team has implemented solutions that are gradually restoring stability. We apologise for any inconvenience & thanks for your patience.

Truly thankful to @barbarabudrich.bsky.social, Nicola Parkin (@tandfresearch.bsky.social), @rupertgatti.bsky.social and Jon Elwell (@ebsco.bsky.social) for making the @oapenbooks.bsky.social 15-year anniversary event at Frankfurter @buchmesse.de so festive and insightful.
Congratulations to all 🥳

Marking the 15th anniversary of the OAPEN Library This year marks the 15th anniversary of the OAPEN Library, which was launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2010.  At this year’s fair, we invite you to attend our half hour panel discussion on ‘The E...

Next week we'll be at @buchmesse.de where the OAPEN Library was first launched 15 years ago.

Our Managing Director, @nielsstern.bsky.social reflects on the past, present, and future of OAPEN in this jubilee blog post to mark the occasion.

We’re thrilled to unveil OAPEN’s refreshed visual identity – including a new logo – that better reflects who we’ve become, what we stand for, and where we’re headed.

Read more about it in the announcement: oapen.org/article/intr...

Up now!

The @operaseu.bsky.social community is vibrant & doing important work to push #DiamondOA forward, inc. the OA Books Special Interest Group that we are part of. It's free to become an Ordinary Member, with a lightweight application process. Thanks @nielsstern.bsky.social for presenting our work!

@dannykay68.bsky.social sharing the #openaccess situation in Australia. It used to be better than it is today she shows. In this landscape, Danny promotes preprints among other things. #OASPA2025

Excited to present the OPERAS Research Infrastructure Special Interest Group on #OpenAccess Books at #OASPA2025. If you want to join the community then have a look at operas-eu.org/special-inte...

Wonderful to see among others two @oapenbooks.bsky.social and @doabooks.bsky.social board members - @charleswatkinson.bsky.social and Antia Wiersma - and @doabooks.bsky.social Scientific Committee member @c-bz.bsky.social on #oaspa2025 stage discussing WHY #openaccess matters and HOW to make it work

Coming up now at the #OASPA2025 poster session, @nielsstern.bsky.social will be presenting on behalf of the @operaseu.bsky.social #OABooks SIG.

Preview the poster, 'Building a Stronger OA Book Ecosystem' below!

ENCOURAGEMENT to see the @operaseu.bsky.social poster given Niels nearly lost it a couple of times en route! www.oaspa.org/wp-content/u... #OASPA2025

WITH PHOTO - #OASPA2025

The Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (v1.1, 2023) Final draft POSI 2.0 revisions - A request for public comment on the final draft of revisions to POSI The POSI Adopters are requesting feedback on the final draft of revisions to POSI with a deadline...

REFERENCE to the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI) by @oapenbooks.bsky.social Niels Stern at #OASPA2025 open book panel - using as a mechanism for structuring the panel discussion around Introductions, Governance, Impact & Quality and Sustainability openscholarlyinfrastructure.org

#OSFair2025 Rethinking Research Assessment @hldejonge.bsky.social shares how Open Science NL has provided funding for Dutch institutions to include open science in their career assessment policies. Currently, 25 institutions in the Netherlands are exploring this. We look forward to the results!

Who Owns Our Knowledge? The Future of Equitable Open Access Who truly owns the knowledge we create? As open access grows, so do concerns about commercialization, AI exploitation, and inequitable participation. This webinar will explore how to design open access models that center community ownership, protect against extractive practices, and amplify marginalized voices. Panelists will share strategies for balancing openness with privacy and consent, ensuring a future where knowledge is not only free to access but also ethically and equitably shared.

Free upcoming webinar: 'Who Owns Our Knowledge? The Future of Equitable Open Access', Monday 20 October at 15:00 CEST. With our very own @nielsstern.bsky.social.
Hosted by @igiglobal.bsky.social, eContent Pro International Press, and OAPA.
For more information & to register: buff.ly/l55ScKT

#OAWeek

Zoé Ancion shares how the French national science funder @agencerecherche.bsky.social promotes full and immediate open access to publications and supports multilingualism and bibliodiversity at #OSFair2025 @cern.bsky.social

Pierre Mounier sets the scene for discussing equitable publishing and the Open Research Europe platform initiated by @ec.europa.eu at #OSFair2025