5 February 2026
Rebecca Wojturska, Edinburgh Diamond, University of Edinburgh
We are delighted to write this editorial for UKSG and share news of the exciting year the Open Institutional Publishing Association (OIPA) had in 2025.
With the coming of digital publishing and new technologies, increasing awareness of the benefits of open access publishing and growing criticism of the practices and profits of commercial publishers, more universities have launched their own publishing organisations and initiatives over the last decade. OIPA was officially launched in 2023 with 10 members, in part as a response to this significant growth of university-based open access publishing. This new community of practice now forms vital infrastructure supporting non-profit open access publishing in universities and offers authors important alternative publishing venues. OIPA members represent a broad range of publishing within universities, from library staff tasked with running individual open access journals or hosting platforms, to smaller university presses, all supporting academics to publish open access. Our network also includes publishers who are ‘born’ open access – i.e., only publish this way – as well as those transitioning to, or striving for, fully open access models and hybrid models.
Two of the founding members of OIPA, Philippa Grand (LSE Press) and Suzanne Tatham (now University of Southampton) published an article in the Times Higher Education in March 2025 outlining why open institutional publishing matters, including the fact these publishers are mission-driven and non-profit, offer authors publishing experiences tailored to their projects and with care, and seek to drive change in scholarly communications in championing principles and ethics in publishing over revenue generation and profits.
2025 saw a significant increase in our membership, with now almost 30 members, showing the continued importance and vibrancy of open institutional publishing. We were delighted to welcome several new members, including Lancaster University Open Journals, Salford Open Journals, Sheffield Hallam Academic Press, Shortform Hosting at Oxford (SHOx), University of St Andrews Journal Hosting Service, the University of Southampton Press and the University of Warwick Press, and Brown University Digital Publications in the US as our newest Associate Member. Find out more about our members and the publishing opportunities they offer researchers here and in our new Members catalogue.
There was no shortage of accolades and anniversaries to celebrate with our members throughout the year. Two of our members celebrated ten years of publishing – congratulations to Brown University Digital Publications and UCL Press! The Open Journals Collective was launched, a new collective funding model which aims to create an equitable and sustainable future for community-owned and –led diamond open access journals. Congratulations to Edinburgh Diamond, LSE Press, Open Library of Humanities, UCL Press, and University of Westminster Press who have journals included in the OJC launch collections. The University of London Press not only reached over one million downloads of their open access books but also received a 100% ASPIRE gold-rate score for the quality of their accessibility statement, representing their work on ensuring all their books meet important new accessibility regulations.
OIPA also increased its profile through attendance at a range of events, including an exhibit for the first time at the UKSG 2025 conference in Brighton. The conference, as ever, provided important opportunities to meet with allies including Copim and similar associations in Europe, as well as many of our members who popped by the stand to say hello! UKSG and a presentation at the ALPSP Redux conference in April enabled us to showcase our member publications and raise awareness of OIPA and open institutional publishing more generally. We received such positive feedback that we have gone ahead and booked a stand at UKSG 2026 in Glasgow, and look forward to meeting more UKSG colleagues there.
In October we held our second ever symposium, this time online. The event was expertly chaired by OIPA Chair Kate Petherbridge (Press Manager, White Rose University Press) with closing remarks from OIPA Advisory Board Chair, Andrew Barker (Library Director, Lancaster University). A range of insightful talks were given from Dr Samuel A. Moore (Scholarly Communication Specialist at Cambridge University Library; College Research Associate at King’s College Cambridge, and member of OIPA’s Advisory Board), Elinor Potts (Communications Coordinator, LSE Press), Caroline Edwards & Paula Clemente Vega (Open Library of Humanities), Allison Levy ((Director, Brown University Digital Publications), John Atkinson (University of Westminster Press Manager), Laura Swift (Editorial Manager, Open Press University of Sussex) and Tom Morley (Research Culture and Open Monographs Lead, Lancaster University). We’re now organising our next in-person OIPA Symposium in Brighton in June 2026 and will keep UKSG members posted on plans.
We also established a new Advisory Board for OIPA, including leading voices across academia, libraries, scholarly comms, universities and funding bodies to help steer our work and provide support and advice on OIPA’s activities. Thank you and welcome to all of our fantastic Advisory Board members!
At the end of 2025, we said goodbye to our fantastic Secretary, Dominique Walker. She was instrumental in keeping OIPA organised and running, and we wish her all the best in her new role! In order to support the further development of OIPA in 2026, we decided to expand the committee. This will give us greater depth and ensure OIPA is sustainable, strengthening our activities and furthering our reach. We want to extend another warm welcome to:
- Camilla Ridgewell (LSHTM Press) as Membership Secretary
- John Atkinson (University of Westminster Press) as Advisory Board Secretary
- Cath Dishman (LJMU Open Journals) as Skills Group Lead
- Gareth ‘Gaz’ J Johnson (University of Warwick Press) as Ordinary Member
All in all, we are very proud of how OIPA has grown, and very much look forward to expanding our membership and reach in 2026.
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