By: Kathrine Bjerg Bennike, AAU OPEN, Aalborg University Library

Why AAU Open?

AAU OPEN's mission is to contribute to the development of Open Scientific publishing and publication forms. The mission is guided by an Open Science agenda, where alternative publishing models and ensuring free access to research are at the core.

At the same time, the international and national focus on Open Science and Open Access contributes to a number of complexities in the requirements that researchers must meet, for example in connection with funding applications. AAU OPEN's purpose is therefore to be a coordinated and focused effort that can guide researchers in their options for Open Access publishing.

CoARA and a reform of research evaluations in an Open Science Perspective

Aalborg University became a member of Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) in March 2023 and is a signatory to the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment.

AAU works actively to develop research evaluations that comply with the principles of CoARA, where particularly responsible metrics, diversity in research output, openness, collaborations, visibility, and societal impact are essential principles.

A concrete example of this is the new AAU Research Indicator. Precisely for this reason, part of AAU OPEN's vision is to provide a platfrom for publishing open peer-reviewed publications as well as support open publications and display other types of scientific contributions for example textbooks.

AAU is following in the footsteps of several other universities in offering publishing opportunities within Open Access under the auspices of the university. Examples of this include: TUDelft OPEN Publishing, Helsinki University Press, and Stockholm University Press.

How can AAU OPEN help you?

In AAU OPEN, we only publish Open Access publications. In its current set-up, AAU OPEN publishes PhD theses from Aalborg University as well as a number of the journals via journals.aau.dk. All AAU OPEN's publications – including books and journals – are freely available online.

AAU's researchers are the primary focus and through dialogue with the individual researcher, research groups, and management, we ensure that AAU OPEN's services are targeted to AAU's researchers' needs for publication and guidance within Open Access.

In AAU OPEN, we also explore new forms of scientific contributions and offer an online home for e.g. journals, books, and textbooks. AAU OPEN can therefore help you with guidance regarding choices and options in relation to Open Access publishing.

Who is behind AAU OPEN?

AAU OPEN is based at Aalborg University Library. The VBN team is behind the initiative and AAU OPEN is thus a further development of our long-standing Open Access guidance and services. As something new, we can now support graphic setup of publications. At the same time, we work closely with several important actors in the field of publication and guidance of researchers, including:

• AAU PHD
• CLAAUDIA
• Information Literacy Team at AAU Library
• Copyright Team at AAU Library
• Information Resources Team at AAU Library
• The VBN Team at AAU Library
• Publishing Partners
• AAU’s Open Access Commitee

How can I learn more about AAU OPEN?

AAU OPEN will launch its online platform in June 2024, where we will have a new website with information about Open Access, publishing options, etc. However, it is already now possible to contact us at aauopen@aau.dk.   

We look forward to the collaboration to make more research from AAU openly available.

Contact us at: aauopen@aau.dk

Contact person: Kathrine Bjerg Bennike

Head of AAU OPEN: Nils Thidemann