OA Switchboard

This is in our Deed of Incorporation: "...community representation, involvement and input in product/service development is ensured and formalised via: an Advisory Group, which holds regular meetings as part of the framework of the organisation, Task/Working Groups, information on the website regarding the development roadmap, regular reporting (via newsletters or blogs or otherwise), and relevant 'Codes'."

See:

The Advisory Group in more detail: The Advisory Group consists of individuals and representatives of stakeholder groups (primary and other) who will contribute by expertise to ensure community representation, involvement and input in product/service development.

OA Switchboard is governed by a Board of Directors, and supported additionally by a Client Advisory Board, Advisory Group, and Working Groups.

The OA Switchboard is a mission-driven, community led initiative designed to simplify the sharing of information between stakeholders about open access publications throughout the whole publication journey.

Following an initial meeting of key stakeholders in 2018, and throughout 2020, OASPA ran the foundational work as a project, with the aim of preparing the groundwork for the OA Switchboard to go live as an operational solution. It delivered a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and a proposal for a sustainable governance and funding model.

Following, in October 2020, Stichting (‘foundation’) OA Switchboard was founded. It consists of both a mission-driven community and a practical tool, currently supporting two use cases. The technical solution is a central metadata exchange hub, that provides a standardised messaging protocol and shared infrastructure. It is built by and for the people who use it, is leveraged with existing PIDs, and has been live since 1 January 2021. (Source)

The OA Switchboard operates on a self-sustaining economic/business model, whereby the operational and development cost are supported by service fees (with transparent pricing) for participating funders, institutions and publishers. We charge fees for development and maintenance of the infrastructure, and for participants to exchange information and communicate. Pricing is transparent and we keep fees as low as possible to offer an affordable solution. We can keep OA Switchboard participants’ fees low, because we’re open source, tightly managed for costs, and the load is shared between funders, institutions and publishers. There is an annual fixed (tiered) subscription fee.

Grants and donations are used to fund specific initiatives, like the current OA Books pilot.