We are very proud to be a member of the Open Institutional Publishing Association (OIPA), which formally launched in Autumn 2023.

This group is a community of practice for publishing operations affiliated with institutions which are striving for open access, from small and medium-sized university presses to individuals based within university libraries working on scholarly journals. The association offers a new infrastructure to support non-commercial open access publishing within the UK, creating a forum to share advice, information, resources, training and best practice.  

The Library launched Lancaster University Open Journals in January 2025, a platform managed by the Library for hosting open access journals.

We have developed this service to make it possible and easy for colleagues managing Open Access journals to host their publications and manage their journal workflows on the platform for free. The service removes the need for colleagues to pay expensive annual subscription fees (usually between £1200 to £1500) for hosting services and ensures their long-term preservation without the need to continuously find sources of funding.

The service uses Open Journal Systems (OJS) software, an open-source platform developed by the Public Knowledge Project. The platform allows journal editors to manage the entire publishing workflow from submission to online publication on a single platform. Articles and issues published on the platform can be indexed in global discovery services.

“We are delighted to have become a member of the Open Institutional Publishing Association; our invitation to join recognises our growing role as open publishers. We are convinced that it is by collaborating with other institutions that we will strengthen our long-standing commitment to Open Access and to developing an Open Research Culture.”- Andrew Barker, Director of Library Services

If you’d like to find out more about OIPA or get involved, please visit https://oipauk.org or email oipa.contact@gmail.com.