[Air-l] New Canadian University partnership supports open source publishing software development

[Miraj Khaled]

New partnership supports open source publishing
software development
	
http://www.sfu.ca/mediapr/news_releases/archives/news01200501.htm


January 20, 2005
The University of British Columbia's Public Knowledge
Project (PKP), the Simon Fraser University Library and
SFU's Canadian Center for Studies in Publishing (CCSP)
have formed a partnership to support the maintenance
and ongoing development of the internationally
acclaimed open source software developed by PKP.

Under the direction of John Willinsky (PKP), Rowland
Lorimer (CCSP) and Lynn Copeland (SFU Library), the
software development will remain focused on improving
the scholarly and public quality of published
research, supporting the efforts of those with little
experience with scholarly publishing and publishing
technologies, reducing costs associated with
publishing, and supporting a variety of publishing and
economic models, including various forms of open
access to the contents of journals.

Mario Pinto, Vice-President, Research at SFU, says:
“This partnership is a great example of how libraries
and researchers are working together, not only to
ensure the preservation and cost-effectiveness of the
publication of research results in the form of journal
articles and research archives, but also to ensure the
continuing development and maintenance of important
software.”

Donald Brooks, Acting Vice-President, Research at UBC,
adds: “It is encouraging to see how this partnership
will extend the university's innovative work in
advancing the exchange of knowledge and sharing of
scholarly resources on a global scale, and do so in
the very spirit of collaboration that lies at the
origin of the Public Knowledge Project.”

At the heart of the partnership are three major
software programs. Open Journal Systems (OJS) provides
online management for journal submissions, peer
reviewing, editing, and online publishing and
indexing. Open Conference Systems (OCS) manages
conference registration, programming and paper
submission and publication. The PKP Harvester (PKPH)
is used to automatically create an online index of
materials from a variety of online sites including
journals and repositories such as those housed at the
Canadian Association of Research Libraries, which are
harvested and reside on an SFU Library server.

PKP will continue to pursue research on scholarly
publishing, while CCSP will take the lead with
publishing development and associated training. The
SFU Library heads up software production,
implementation, and support, and provides a permanent
home for the software . All three partners will
contribute to this venture through in-kind and
financial contributions and will work with partners,
such as the Synergies project, in securing additional
funding.

The Public Knowledge Project focuses on the access
question for research and scholarship, with a concern
for increasing research capacities among universities
in developing countries, as well as among professional
communities and the public at large. The Canadian
Center for Studies in Publishing at SFU is a
university/industry initiative dedicated to the
development of publishing in Canada and
internationally, with a special focus on books,
magazines and electronic media. The SFU Library has an
international reputation for technological innovation
and co-operation.

- || -

Websites:
B.C. Public Knowledge Project:
www.pkp.ubc.ca/sun/day2.html
SFU library: www.lib.sfu.ca/
SFU Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing:
www.ccsp.sfu.ca/home.htm

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=====
Miraj Khaled
============
techiemik at yahoo.com
mindexplorer.blogspot.com

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