OpenEdition services > Editorial teams

How to apply for OpenEdition Books

OpenEdition Books is a platform that brings together a consortium of international publishers in the humanities and social sciences.

Are you a publisher interested in participating in this initiative? Are you already part of the consortium of publishers on the OpenEdition Books platform and would like to submit a new series? We invite you to contact us at: accession[at]openedition.org. The OpenEdition team will be happy to provide you with information on how to join the platform or to submit a new book series.

The following is a detailed description of the application criteria, the application procedures and the evaluation of the dossiers.

Admissibility criteria

To be declared admissible, an application must meet the admissibility criteria mentioned below:

General prerequisites

  • The books series must propose at least 3 finalized books before being eligible to apply;
  • If the application is accepted by the Scientific Board, its accession will be conditioned by the acceptance of the OpenEdition platform Terms and Conditions of Use (T & Cs).

Open access

OpenEdition anchors its action within the framework of the French National Plan for Open Science, therefore It favours open access books:

  • At least 50% of the content of the publisher's website must be open access (full open access and/or freemium open access);
  • The OpenEdition Scientific Board does not favour exclusive access for titles published more than 5 years ago.

Licenses

Creative Commons (CC) licenses are a legal tool which permits to use a work (text, image, music) in different ways (content that can be copied, distributed, edited, remixed, and built upon) all within the boundaries of copyright law. In order to meet the growing demand from contributors and readers, OpenEdition decided in 2020 to adopt a voluntary policy with the application of CC licenses on its four platforms, which will come into effect during 2022.

More informations:

Governance, integrity and editorial policy

  • Series whose authors and editors all belong to a restricted and exclusive circle (members of the same laboratory, doctoral students, etc.) are not accepted;
  • The selection and evaluation of scientific content must be carried out according to clearly stated procedures;
  • The composition and the mode of constitution of the editorial bodies of the series (editorial board, etc.) must be defined and publicly displayed;
  • OpenEdition favours series that display in a clear and detailed way their editorial lines and procedures (including the evaluation processes);
  • The OpenEdition Scientific Board does not promote the publication of single titles (a specific application procedure has been set up for single titles, see below);
  • Publications from the 2000s will be prioritized;
  • OpenEdition favours series that publicly display the a priori or a posteriori procedures taken for the purposes of scientific integrity (questions of data fabrication, plagiarism, etc.);
  • OpenEdition favours series that provide bilingual abstracts to ensure better search engine optimization;
  • When a series is accepted, it must ensure the regular publication of its content.

Application Forms

Applying as a new Publisher

  • The publisher must submit an application by returning the Application Form in digital and printed format to editeurs[at]openedition.org (Annexes 1 and 2 must be completed for each series);
  • At least 3 titles per series must be submitted in PDF format.

Applying for a new books series

Publishers already present on the OpenEdition Books platform must submit the following elements to suggest additional series on their publisher site:

  • The publisher must submit an application by returning the forms Annex 1 and Annex 2, in digital format;
  • At least 3 titles per series must be submitted in PDF format.

Applying for titles out of series

The OpenEdition Scientific Board does not favour the access of titles out of series on the OpenEdition Books platform, however publishers already present on the OpenEdition Books who wish to propose titles out of series must send:

  • The finalised copy of the submitted title in PDF Format ;
  • A presentation of the editorial project and the context of the publication;
  • The peer reports of the publication (these peer reports can be anonymized).

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated by OpenEdition’s academic board before being accepted. The evaluation aims to assess the scientific relevance and quality of the publishing project, its technical feasibility and editorial quality.

The decision to accept or refuse applications is the prerogative of OpenEdition’s academic board, it may occasionally call on a scientific external review for certain series. A final decision is taken only upon receipt of a complete application dossier.

The evaluation stages

  1. Reception and verification of the application;
  2. OpenEdition Internal assessment of the editorial quality and technical feasibility of the project;
  3. Scientific and editorial review by the OpenEdition Scientific Board ;
  4. The Scientific Board renders a reasoned decision;
  5. Communication of the final decision to the editor.

Evaluation deadlines

The evaluation of an application lasts at least three months. The duration varies according to the complexity of the publishing project.To streamline the application monitoring process, we have set up a yearly calendar for the submission of applications.

2024 calendar :

  • January 23, 2024
  • March 21, 2024
  • May 14, 2024
  • August 28, 2024
  • October 23, 2024

Contact

By email

Please use the following email address for sending membership requests and for all questions relating to the membership procedure or processes: accession[at]openedition.org

By post

OpenEdition - Adhesion
Technopôle de Château-Gombert
22, rue John Maynard Keynes
Bâtiment C
13013 Marseille
FRANCE
 

Downloadable documents

Dossier de candidature (Français) (application/zip – 1.1M)

Application package (English) (application/zip – 598k)