The Public Knowledge Project is a research and software development facility at Simon Fraser University, a public post-secondary institution in Canada. PKP conducts research into issues impacting scholarly communication and develops free/open source software to contribute to the development of a new, more diverse, inclusive, and accessible model for scholarly publishing.

PKP created, supports, and continues to enhance three main software applications: Open Monograph Press (OMP) for books, Open Journal Systems (OJS) for journals, and Open Preprint Systems (OPS) for preprints. All three applications share a common core (making up 80% of the code) with unique book, journal, or preprint components (20%) providing the format-specific requirements.

PKP is committed to a distributed model of open source, where communities are encouraged to download, modify, and operate the software independently (although paid hosting is available from PKP for those without the technical resources to do it themselves -- all revenues go directly back into developing the software). Going beyond just the open licensing of the code, PKP believes strongly in empowering communities using its software through ensuring modest local system requirements to operate, supporting their local, independent installations, welcoming community contributions, and by developing a wide range of free, online resources, including (but not limited to) a support forum, documentation, courses, and digital preservation. Although these free resources incur a significant cost to PKP, we believe strongly in investing in the success of the communities publishing with our software.

PKP has cultivated a diverse, international community that benefits from its publishing software and research around scholarly communication. This global knowledge production, originating in 148 countries and in 60 languages, benefits academic communities and the wider reading public. It contributes to centering knowledge production outside North American and European research and publishing dominance, as well as augments bibliodiversity by region, language, and perspective. This helps advance marginalized approaches and knowledges from a wide variety of communities. According to Beacon Data released in 2022, the greatest number of OMP installations can be seen in Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico.

The PKP-OMP Supporter Program

The PKP-OMP Supporter Program is a unique opportunity for organizations particularly interested in open monographs, and advancing Open Monograph Press, to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of open book publishers in an ever evolving technological landscape. Funds raised as part of this program would go towards new features in the software, specifically for book publishing, and towards OMP-specific documentation, courses, and other free community supports. This special fund is important because the overwhelming majority of PKP supporters are interested in journal publishing enhancements. Supporting the PKP-OMP program would allow for the necessary investments to extend the OMP feature set, as well as community building activities.

Mission and Values

PKP is committed to conducting research on, developing open source software for, and providing services in support of, scholarly publishing that extends access and opportunities for research and scholarship on a global scale.

Our work is guided by our commitment to:

• Quality:
• We achieve excellence through continuous improvement and learning
• Openness:
• We are transparent and share what we develop widely and freely
• Participation:
• We encourage involvement, contributions, and feedback from our community
• Inclusiveness:
• We respect people, value diversity, and actively seek to expand spaces for many voices and experiences, both locally and globally, in and through our work

PKP will soon be a signatory to the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure and has publicly declared its dedication to not being open for corporate acquisition.

Governance

PKP is a Core Facility of Simon Fraser University and is therefore governed by SFU’s Board of Governors. PKP is guided by an Advisory Committee made up of member organizations and community contributors. The chairs of the Technical and Members Committee each sit on the Advisory Committee, while Interest Groups are open to all community contributors that abide by the Code of Conduct. 

Sustainability

PKP has a diversified revenue model to fund its activities and ensure its operational sustainability and independence. Approximately 25% of our revenue comes from grants, 20% comes from memberships (institutions that use our software and support our work), 50% comes from business revenue generated from hosting and supportinginstallations of our software for publishers and other institutions, and 5% from our home institution. These funds go towards community capacity building and open source software development, including Open Monograph Press. 

Future Plans 

With funding through the Open Book Collective, PKP will focus on the following activities:

• Via a community consultation, review the current OMP feature set and identify high-priority enhancements (and fund the implementation of these priorities)
• Working with book editors, editorial staff, authors, and reviewers, conduct a complete user experience review for OMP to ensure the software is adequately meeting the publishing needs of this community (and fund the user interface improvements identified in this review)
• Review and enhance the structure of chapters and publication formats
• Modernize the PID implementation in OMP (particularly CrossRef/DOI support)
• Review and expand the transfer of metadata from OMP in the ONIX 3.0 format
• Working with the DOAB and OAPEN, explore ONIX for the transfer of metadata from OMP presses to their services
• Review and expand the OMP documentation in the PKP Docs Hub
• Develop an OMP open book publishing course on PKP School