In today’s publishing landscape there are several paths to Open Access (OA) publishing. A common and much discussed way of financing OA publishing is through Article Processing Charges (APC). However, over the recent years, several alternatives have been developed that do not rely on APCs. Consortia models, community-driven approaches, funder financed platforms etc. This is a path often overlooked.

Previously OpenAIRE launched two calls to fund non-author fee based open access publishing initiatives. The results of which you can find here for the 1^st call and here for the 2^nd call.
Under OpenAIRE Advance, we aim to continue this effort and showcase the range of models available (including organizational aspects),  assess their relative strengths and weaknesses, conduct cross-disciplinary analyses of their efficacy in different academic contexts ,and carry out knowledge-sharing activities to promote best practice and encourage experimentation. Particular focus is thereby given to consortia models, as well as sustainability models, cost sharing and different disciplinary approaches.

The 8th OpenAIRE workshop took place as part of the RDA Ninth Plenary Meeting, Barcelona, and explored legal hindrances and possible solutions to open up research data. With the presentation of legal studies in making data open and interoperable, lessons learnt from the funders and with a critical understanding of issues related to text and data mining, data privacy and licenses, the event was an excellent opportunity to deepen all these issues.

This workshop have presented the new OpenAIRE service for Research Communities, showcasing two real use cases from the five pilot communities within OpenAIRE-connect project (i: Neuroinformatics from France Life Imaging national infrastructure; ii: European Marine Science from Pangaea and Atlas community; iii: Cultural Heritage and Digital Humanities from the PARTHENOS research infrastructure; iv: Fisheries and aquaculture management from the BlueBridge and MARBEC infrastructures; and v: Environment & Economy from the national/EU node of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network), addressing community based solutions, and also the demonstration of the features available for research initiatives and infrastructures.