Launch or transfer your journal with a trusted scholar-led publishing partner.
OAPA works with associations, universities, scholarly societies, and editorial teams to establish new journals and support the transfer of existing titles into a sustainable open publishing environment.
A clear structure for sustainable scholarly journals.
OAPA supports journals through a partnership model that distinguishes ownership, editorial leadership, and publishing operations. This helps journals remain academically led while benefiting from professional systems, training, and publishing support.
The model is particularly suited to association-owned, university-owned, and community-led journals that want to strengthen sustainability, reduce administrative burden, and build long-term publishing quality.
The three key roles in the journal model.
A successful journal partnership works best when ownership, editorial direction, and publishing operations are clearly defined.
Owner
The Owner is typically an association, university, scholarly society, or academic body with a mission to advance knowledge in a disciplinary or interdisciplinary field. The Owner provides strategic purpose, ensures alignment with its mission, and appoints the Editor-in-Chief.
Editor-in-Chief
The Editor-in-Chief is the lead editor appointed by the Owner to advance the aims and scope of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief sets editorial policy, leads editorial decision-making, appoints or recommends the editorial team, and safeguards scholarly quality.
Publisher
OAPA acts as the Publisher. We manage publishing technology and workflow systems, support indexing readiness and management, and provide training and development to strengthen editorial capability, visibility, and sustainability.
Start a new journal or move an existing one.
OAPA can support journals at different points in their life cycle, from new title development to established journal transition.
Launch a New Journal
For associations, universities, scholarly societies, and editorial teams seeking to establish a new journal with credible publishing infrastructure and developmental support from the outset.
- Establish a new journal aligned to a disciplinary mission or scholarly community
- Build with a clear ownership, editorial, and publishing structure
- Set up sustainable workflows and editorial systems from the beginning
- Develop capability for editors and peer reviewers alongside journal growth
Transfer an Existing Journal
For journals seeking a more stable publishing home, stronger operational support, or a more sustainable open access future.
- Move from an unsustainable or fragmented setup into a supported environment
- Retain journal identity, scope, and academic leadership
- Strengthen publishing systems, indexing readiness, and continuity
- Support editorial succession and long-term journal viability
What OAPA supports
OAPA’s annual support package provides a practical and sustainable foundation for journal operations, editorial development, publishing visibility, and long-term publishing quality.
Included core support
- Hosting: journal hosting within OAPA’s publishing environment and systems.
- Indexing auditing and management: support to monitor indexing readiness, maintain standards, and strengthen discoverability.
- Editor-in-Chief Council membership: access to shared leadership practice and sector discussion.
- Editor training: two places in Foundations of Academic Journal Editing for new editors.
- Peer review training: two places in Foundations of Academic Peer Review to strengthen journal peer review processes.
- CLOCKSS archiving: long-term preservation support through CLOCKSS archiving.
- ORCID ID linking: ORCID integration to support author identity and metadata quality.
- OAPA memberships: five OAPA memberships for editors connected to the journal.
Optional add-ons
- Integrated conference scheduling application: optional support for journals or associations running conference-linked programs. Price on request
- iThenticate plagiarism checking: optional plagiarism detection support for editorial workflows. Price on request
- Copyediting support: optional copyediting services to support manuscript quality and publication readiness. Price on request
Protect academic leadership while strengthening publishing operations.
Protect academic leadership
Journals retain a clear ownership and editorial model while benefiting from stronger publishing systems and support.
Reduce operational burden
OAPA helps reduce pressure on editors and owners by supporting publishing systems, training, and development needs.
Support sustainability
The model helps journals strengthen continuity, capability, visibility, resilience, and succession over time.
Talk to OAPA about your journal.
We welcome early conversations with associations, universities, scholarly societies, and editorial teams exploring a new journal or considering the transfer of an existing title.
Contact partnerships@open-publishing.org to begin the conversation.
What to include in your enquiry
- the name of the journal or proposed title
- whether you are launching a new journal or transferring an existing one
- the Owner organisation involved
- the journal’s field, scope, and intended audience
- the current or proposed Editor-in-Chief structure
- any current publishing arrangements or platform details
- the kind of support you are seeking