Érudit and CRKN are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Partnership for Open Access (POA), which enables more than 240 non-commercial scholarly journals to receive financial support from 54 Canadian university libraries.
For over a decade, the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)—the national consortium of Canadian university libraries—and Érudit—the national digital dissemination platform for Canadian scholarly journals—have worked together to promote open access through the Partnership for Open Access (POA).
Essential Support for Open Access in Canada
Since its inception in 2014, the POA has pursued a clear objective: to support Canadian scholarly journals and increase open access without relying on Article Processing Charges (APCs). As part of the global movement toward diamond open access, the POA brings together Canadian libraries and journals to build a more equitable and sustainable publishing environment. It provides financial support to non-commercial scholarly journals through the ongoing commitment of library partners and is based on a close collaboration between all stakeholders in the research ecosystem.
Today, the POA represents a community-driven, non-commercial OA model that is well-established in Canada and also recognized internationally. Currently, more than 240 scholarly journals benefit from financial support from over 90 university libraries in Canada and abroad. The POA is also a pillar of Coalition Publica, a pan-Canadian initiative that develops open infrastructure dedicated to research, dissemination, and digital scholarly publishing.
“The Partnership for Open Access is integral to CRKN’s goal to advance interconnected, sustainable access to knowledge. Through this partnership, our members champion bibliodiversity and sustainability in the Canadian scholarly landscape and enable access to vital content in both of Canada’s official languages,” says Clare Appavoo, Executive Director of CRKN. “We look forward to a future of strong partnership and collaboration that will continue to expand and enrich the open digital knowledge ecosystem in Canada.”
Enhancing Access to Canadian Scholarly Journals
This successful collaboration has enabled significant advancements in Canadian research. Over the past ten years, the POA has notably supported the flip of 34 journals to open access and reduced the embargo period from 24 to 12 months. These achievements have benefited the Canadian research community, with over 2,000 OA articles disseminated every year on the erudit.org platform, without access restrictions and without imposing APCs.
“The Canadian journals supported by the POA are all independent and very diverse. Mostly run by researchers based in our universities, these journals are deeply rooted in our academic communities,” says Tanja Niemann, Executive Director of Érudit. “By providing them with stable financial support, the POA plays a key role in their sustainable transition to open access, while facilitating access to the results of Canadian research,” she adds.
Recognition in Canada and Internationally
The POA is part of a global network of initiatives promoting diamond open access, with efforts in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Action Plan for Diamond Open Access and the Diamond OA Journals Study highlight the growing importance of this publishing model, which is far from marginal. Thanks to this momentum, the POA is gaining increased recognition, both in Canada and internationally. Driven by a shared vision of open knowledge dissemination, the POA won the Outstanding Collaboration Award from the Association of Research Libraries in 2017. More recently, the Quebec Social Innovation Network (RQIS) recognized the POA as an example of social innovation, highlighting the benefits it brings to both the research community and society as a whole.
A Renewed Partnership
To mark its 10th anniversary, the POA has modernized its visual identity, emphasizing the key principles of the partnership, including collaboration with the research community. A new webpage now allows users to explore the POA’s achievements, discover its history, and stay up to date with the latest news. To learn more, visit: erudit.org/partnership.
The accompanying “10 Years of POA” campaign celebrates its successes and encourages the public to learn more about diamond open access.
Érudit is an inter-university consortium that provides research and cultural communities with a wide range of services in digital publishing and dissemination. The Érudit platform—erudit.org—is the leading digital dissemination platform of SSH research in Canada. It hosts over 240 journals and its collections are consulted by the research community and the general public, including the members of over 1,200 institutions worldwide.
CRKN is a non-profit organization with 85 members, including world-class academic libraries and research institutions, two national libraries, and Canada’s largest public library system. By advancing open access initiatives, licensing vital research content, facilitating widespread access to and preservation of Canadian heritage content, and supporting persistent identifier adoption, CRKN and our members are collectively empowering Canada with access to trusted knowledge.
