Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Saturday, June 16, 2007

Hamburg University Press becomes an all-OA publisher

Starting on July 1, all scientific publications of the Hamburg University Press will be OA.  The press will also sell print-on-demand editions from its own web site and and through traditional booksellers. 

Comments.

  • Kudos to the leadership at the press.  This step is bold and welcome.  Although a growing number of university presses have OA titles, series, or imprints, I believe that only Rice University Press is in the same league as an all-OA press.  (If there are others, I'd be glad to hear about them.)
  • The announcement, on the front page of the press site, doesn't give further details.  For example, while it explicitly mentions OA in the sciences, it doesn't say anything about the arts and humanities.  However, it lists five books soon to appear in dual (OA/TA) editions, and one is Tilmann Altenberg and Klaus Meyer-Minnemann (eds.), Europäische Dimensionen des "Don Quijote" in Literatur, Kunst, Film und Musik.  So perhaps the new policy applies to all fields in which the press publishes work. 
  • The announcement doesn't mention books or journals, but all its examples are books.  Nor does it mention the licensing or permissions that will accompany the OA or free online editions.