OAPEN and Jisc collaborate on enhancing the open policy finder
Silke Davison
Fri 23 May 2025
Open access (OA) policy information is increasing, as more funders, publishers, and institutions continue to develop OA book specific policies. Two resources aggregating OA book policy information include the PALOMERA Knowledge Base and the Jisc open policy finder (formerly Sherpa services). The Knowledge Base includes policies focused on funder and institutional policies, whereas the open policy finder focuses mostly on publisher policies.
For many years, OAPEN has hosted a ‘Funder compliant publishers’ webpage to help researchers identify publishers who are aligned with the OA requirements from funders, such as the European Research Council (ERC), Wellcome, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).
As Jisc is already collecting publisher policies, we decided to collaborate more closely with them on the open policy finder and share these policies we’ve collected over the years, to avoid duplication of efforts. As a result, we will be discontinuing the ‘Funder compliant publishers’ webpage from Friday 30 May.
The open policy finder is an up-to-date resource for OA publisher policy information. This change reflects our shared commitment to improving the discoverability of OA book policies for the research community. The PALOMERA Knowledge Base continues to be the most comprehensive resource for funders and institutional policy OA books in the European Research Area where new policies are added on an ongoing basis.
What will happen to the list of publishers on this webpage?
All relevant policies from the original OAPEN webpage have already been added to the open policy finder and are discoverable in it. We have already contacted these publishers to inform them of this change.
What should publishers do if they have a compliance policy for an OA funder?
The open policy finder reflects policies as shared on publisher websites.
- Check your listing on the open policy finder to verify accuracy.
- If updates are needed, contact [email protected] with “open policy finder books” in the subject line.
- If your policy has not yet appeared, you can request its inclusion.
- For details, refer to: What are the inclusion criteria for Books policies?
We encourage all publishers with books listed in the OAPEN Library to ensure their open access policies are visible in the open policy finder. Doing so supports greater transparency and helps authors and institutions make informed decisions about publishing in open access.
The open policy finder team also encourages you to join the publishers jiscmail group ([email protected]) to keep abreast of service updates.
Are there other resources for OA book polices?
The PALOMERA project, and 24-month EU-funded project looking at policy alignment for OA book policies in the European Research Area (ERA), delivered a list of recommendations for publishers to promote transparency and high standards in OA publishing. Recommendations are also available for other stakeholders, such as libraries, research performing organisations, research funding organisations, and more.
The OAPEN OA Books Toolkit is another useful resource and as part of the PALOMERA project, was updated to include sections on OA book policies and OA book funding policies.
About Jisc
Jisc is the UK digital, data and technology agency focused on tertiary education, research and innovation. They are a not-for-profit organisation and believe education and research improves lives and that technology improves education and research. They provide managed and brokered products and services, enhanced with expertise and intelligence to provide sector leadership and enable digital transformation.