Jisc and the OA Switchboard have established an agreement allowing UK universities who are Jisc members to use the service for free!
Back in December 2020, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Wellcome and Jisc were among the first organisations supporting the establishment of a new body called the Open Access Switchboard.
The Switchboard’s aim is to help the research community transition to full and immediate open access and simplify efforts to support open access (OA) as the predominant model of publication of research. In a project led by the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA) in 2020, the OA Switchboard established as a not-for-profit collaboration among funders, institutions, consortia and publishers to provide essential infrastructure, standards and back office services.
The Switchboard, as neutral and independent intermediary, will support information exchange as well as help reduce barriers to the open access market. It aims to allow funders, publishers and institutions to streamline their communications, improve transparency of data, and reduce costs.
Development of the OA Switchboard began in 2020 and the newly founded OA Switchboard foundation entered its launch phase as of the 1 January 2021. Jisc is working with the OA Switchboard to explore how UK institutions can best benefit from the shared data and infrastructure this service will provide. To that end, Jisc has reached an additional agreement with the Switchboard allowing any HEI who is a Jisc member to engage with the OASB and have the fee waived.
To learn more about the Switchboard, please take a look at this free introductory webinar or go to the Jisc service page for the OASB, which outlines the Jisc-brokered agreement for Higher Educatioin Institutions in the UK who are Jisc members: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/open-access-switchboard
If you’re ready to sign up to the Switchboard, here’s an easy-to-use form to get things going: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/forms/sign-up-for-open-access-switchboard!