Authors wishing to make their materials digitally available can often place pre-prints or even published articles on institutional repositories such as our own ISU ReD; however, the question might arise about where the software and tools used in open access publishing come from. Publishing doesn’t occur magically, and someone has to develop the software platforms and tools used to provide access to resources.
One organization working to create strategies and software to suppose open access is the Public Knowledge Project, or PKP. The PKP was founded in 1998 and is a partnership between the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing at Simon Fraser University, the University of Pittsburgh, Ontario Council of University Libraries, the California Digital Library, and the School of Education at Stanford University. The PKP works towards creating online environments that improve the quality of academic research.
PKP currently offers four separate but complimentary systems: Open Journal Systems, Open Monograph Press, Open Conference Systems, and Open Harvester Systems. Together these software platforms allow users to manage and publish journals, edit and publish books, coordinate scholarly conferences, and index online resources and make metadata searchable. This allows institutions and even private individuals with the programming knowledge and resources to create their own publishing platforms.
While ISU ReD does not use this suite of tools for programming, we do offer support for journal publishing. Currently, three journals—Journal of STEM Teacher Education, Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics, and Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders—publish on ISU ReD. If you wish to discuss these options further, for current or already published research, please contact isured@ilstu.edu.
