8 February 2021
Knowledge Unlatched (KU), has announced the results of 2020 pledging round, which ended in December 2020 and once again saw hundreds of libraries worldwide pledge support for OA book and journal initiatives offered by KU and its partners.
Overall, about 310 books and 34 journals will be published OA in 2021. These include 240 books from the KU Select 2020 HSS Books Collection and 65 books from KU’s partner collections. In addition, 31 journals will be flipped to OA thanks to two ground-breaking Subscribe-to-Open (S2O) projects: Pluto Open Journals and IWAP Open Journals.
Last year’s partner collections included Berghahn Migration & Development Studies, Brill Postmodern Literature, HAU Books, International Water Association Publishing Books, Pluto Press Radical Politics, University of California Press Luminos, University Press Archaeology, and three German-language collections: transcript Open Library Politikwissenschaft, wbv Open Library and Mohr Siebeck IT-Recht. 2020 also saw three KU partner initiatives from 2017 renewed for three more years: Language Science Press, Open Commons of Phenomenology and KU Select HSS Journals.
“We are grateful to all the libraries and institutions worldwide that pledged support for these diverse collections in 2020, as none of this would be possible without their participation,” says Catherine Anderson, KU’s Head of Sales. “We are especially pleased to see 30 new libraries pledge for the first time in 2020, proving that even in challenging times, libraries remain committed to the values of OA.”
KU will continue to make the title lists for each collection and unlatching status transparent and update this information regularly so that librarians can clearly understand which titles are unlatched or will be unlatched soon. Some 630 institutions worldwide have supported KU initiatives to date. By the end of this year, KU’s total impact will number around 2,700 books, and over 50 journals made OA.
In addition to promoting its current and new partner offerings in 2021, KU will continue to seek feedback from the library community in an ongoing effort to bring to the scholarly community OA models that are sustainable for both libraries and publishers.
KU also plans to make its financial results for 2020 public in the spring of 2021.