The project KOALA-AV - translating to "Establishing, Expanding and Anchoring Consortial Open Access Solutions” - (2023-2025) is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). KOALA-AV is dedicated to the expansion of the KOALA funding model. Building on experiences with existing consortia and the perspectives of participating libraries, editorial board members and consortium-leading institutions, KOALA-AV will examine specific challenges of existing consortia and models and develop suggestions for improvement. These include addressing specific barriers to participation for libraries, supporting a community of diverse stakeholders, simplifying consortial processes (workflows and tools), supporting international participation in consortia, i. e. tapping new sources of funding domestically and internationally, actively advocating for new OA consortia at additional sites, and increasing the visibility of consortial offerings via a new web offering to provide an overview of current consortial offerings. The aim is to encourage further dissemination of these models and to increase the number of consortia and participating libraries (and thus the number of consortia-funded periodicals). The project results will be developed with the participation of relevant stakeholder groups and actively shared in the relevant communities. In this way, the project makes an important contribution to the expansion and anchoring of consortial models in Germany. To this end, TIB is working together with the Communication, Information, Media Centre (KIM) of the University of Konstanz the Communication, Information, Media Center (KIM) at the University of Konstanz.

KOALA - Konsortiale Open-Access-Lösungen aufbauen (2021-2023)

In the KOALA project (2021-2023), consortial solutions for financing open access were established. Collaborative funding of open access journals and book series by academic libraries is an alternative to the dominant model using article processing charges (APC), where articles are paid for individually by authors or their institutions. During the project period, the TIB worked with the Communication, Information, Media Centre (KIM) of the University of Konstanz to establish two consortia as funding partners for open access periodicals without author-facing charges ("Diamond open access"). Within this framework, were carried out further analyses and accompanied periodicals in their flipping to open access. A central point of contact for editors who seek help with the transition to open access or with finding sustainable funding was created. The infrastructure created by KOALA enables fair and sustainable financing of quality-assured open access publications without authro-facing charges ("Diamond Open Access"). It contributes to removing financial hurdles for authors and readers and thus facilitates participation in open access publications.

KOALA was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research

Is there KOALA funding after the projects?

After the project's closing, TIB continues its engagement in consortial funding for open access publications in the field of science and technology. If you are an editor or editorial board member of a journal or book series and like to learn more about funding options through KOALA, please get in touch! If your institution wishes to support consortial funding for APC-free open access, more information can be found here.