Dublin City University (DCU) has announced the launch of DCU Press, Ireland’s first open access university press. DCU Press aims to increase barrier-free access to university related publications.
DCU Press is set to make university research available to the public without paywalls or subscriptions. The project is a joint venture on behalf of DCU Libraries and DCU’s Office of the Vice President of Research and Innovation.
Announcing the launch, University Librarian at DCU, Christopher Pressler, described DCU Press as a “carefully considered response to change and a progression of the University’s heritage of innovation in open scholarship”.
“Supported by a strong alliance and sound principles, Ireland’s first open access university press will ensure that DCU continues to be at the vanguard of scholarly transformation,” Pressler continued. “DCU Press builds on our reputation for transformation and enterprise and puts the University at the forefront of new ways for universities to engage with the public.”
Following in the footsteps of the wider Open Access movement, DCU Press aims to help researchers and students alike access material previously hidden behind paywalls, thus reducing costs and allowing increased sharing of ideas.
DCU’s announcement follows the European Commission’s adoption of Horizon Europe last month, which seeks to significantly change research communication by breaking down barriers to accessing material. Centred on the notion of “open science”, Horizon Europe aims to achieve a better return on European Union (EU) investments in the sciences by reducing barriers to research material. It hopes the move “will assist market uptake and increase the innovation potential of results generated by EU funding.”
Over 750 open access repositories currently exist worldwide, such as the Oxford University Research Archive and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland’s (RCSI) e-publications repository. While DCU Press is the first open access university press in Ireland, Trinity’s Access to Research Archive (TARA) Institutional Repository allows researchers to archive their own work.
