OA2020 WORKING GROUPS
Building on the significant progress achieved through open access negotiations in recent years, the next phase of the open access transition calls for additional, targeted, collaborative approaches to address persistent systemic issues.
To meet this need, OA2020 is coordinating a series of time-bound, outcome-driven working groups that draw on the strength of its international community. These groups bring together institutional practitioners and allied partners to develop practical tools, guidance, and benchmarks that enable continued progress and improvement.
The scope of the working groups reflect current needs of the OA2020 community and aligns with the initiative’s broader strategy to foster coordinated action and sustained investment in open access. Their formation directly responds to the key priorities identified at the 17th Berlin Open Access Conference and follows consultations with OA2020’s regional advisory groups, which explored how these can be implemented in diverse national and disciplinary contexts. For an overview of the regional advisory group consultations, read our OA2020 Community Priorities and Strategic Response document.
TRANSPARENCY TO STEWARD THE OA TRANSITION
Chairs: To be announced
Transparency in publishing data and metadata, publishing integrity, and financial terms is essential for a fair and sustainable open access ecosystem. This working group will develop practical frameworks and resources to embed transparency into open access agreement negotiations and implementation.
As its first priority, this working group OA2020 is partnering with the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information to establish a Joint Task Force on Negotiating Openness of Publication Metadata, creating a unified voice in addressing publishers on transparency issues. The Joint Task Force is co-chaired by Miranda Bennett (California Digital Library, United States) and Ludo Waltman (Leiden University, Netherlands)
Focus areas: publication data and metadata, contractual frameworks, publishing ethics and quality standards, financial transparency, transparency metrics and assessment
FINANCIAL FLOWS AND COST MODELING FOR THE OPEN ACCESS TRANSITION
Co-chairs
Ádám Dér (MPDL, Germany)
Celeste Feather (Lyrasis, United States)
As the open access transition advances, rebalancing financial investments is essential. While transformative agreements have increased transparency, significant gaps remain—particularly around legacy subscription spending and author-facing APCs.
This working group analyzes financial flows of scholarly journal publishing and models future cost scenarios to support thoughtful resource stewardship, equitable resource allocation and informed investment decisions within library and research communities.
Focus areas: data collection & analysis, trend analysis, scenario modeling, equity, case studies
ESAC RESOURCES UPDATE AND DEVELOPMENT
Co-chairs
Jens Aasheim (Sikt, Norway)
Nicola Bieg (TIB, Germany)
Jack Hyland (IReL, Ireland)
The scholarly publishing landscape is rapidly evolving, and our negotiation resources must keep pace.
This working group is dedicated to enhancement and creation of ESAC tools, templates, and guidance to address emerging challenges in open access negotiations, to ensure that ESAC resources remain practical, comprehensive, and aligned with community priorities for transparent and efficient negotiations.
Focus areas: workflow recommendations, data standards and quality, streamlining processes and expanding the scope of the ESAC Registry, license agreement evaluation, publisher assessment, agreement clauses