All AU researchers now have the option of having their reports, dissertations and working papers published as eBooks free of charge. AU Library is now offering a new publication service that also strengthens the university’s efforts to promote Open Access publication.

2015.11.09 | Knud Holt Nielsen

Photo: Maria Randima, AU.

Researchers at Aarhus University not only disseminate their work through academic publishers and scientific and scholarly journals. There is also an extensive body of knowledge production in the form of working papers, PhD dissertations, research reports, proceedings and the like. This type of research output is often termed ‘gray literature’ by libraries: highly qualified research of considerable public interest, but which all too rarely reaches academic peers and the general public or reaches the shelves of libraries.

The lack of proper channels to make this type of research output easily available to both academic and popular audiences has long been felt. While a considerable proportion of these texts have been available locally in electronic form on the websites of departments and centres, no central publication service has been available.  In addition, such locally published online texts have risked disappearance in connection with organisational changes, with the loss of important knowledge as a consequence.

With the new publication service Open Monograph Press, which enables staff to upload reports and papers as free eBooks, AU Library is now providing a solution to this problem. These publications will be assigned ISBN numbers and registered in both Danish and international library databases. They will also be assigned a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) number. DOI is a relatively new standard which makes it possible to locate a specific eBook title regardless of changes in URL.

All employees at Aarhus University are eligible to register as users of the service. The service, which started on a limited scale in the spring of 2015, has expanded rapidly since the summer holiday, and over 80 reports and working papers by researchers at AU have already been made available as easily accessible eBooks.

• Read more about Open Monograph Press and how you can publish your texts as eBooks.