From: Kai Karin Geschuhn <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 12:39:30 +0000

<Apologies for cross posting>

Dear list members,

We are pleased to introduce the initiative ESAC to you. ESAC stands
for “Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges”. ESAC aims to:

· address the challenges associated with the management of Open Access
article charges (APCs);

· start the discussion on efficient workflows involving all parties
such as funders, libraries, authors, standardization initiatives, and
publishers;

· propose good practices and proven workflows.

As Open Access publishing is growing, libraries, funders, and open
access publishers are faced with the need to establish administrative
routines for the management of Article Processing Charges (APCs).
Without past experience in managing, many institutions have turned to
manual systems of processing payments and/or established routines that
may not be scalable as the uptake of pure OA among their researchers
grows.

To encourage a thoughtful and constructive dialogue amongst
stakeholders, the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Max Planck
Digital Library, in cooperation with the Public Library of Science and
Co-Action Publishing, held a Forum and Workshop on November 18th, 2013
in Berlin under the title “Towards an Efficient System for Managing
APCs “.  The aim of the event was to take steps towards defining best
practices for the administration of APCs across stakeholder groups,
through sharing of knowledge and experiences, and a practical
discussion on solutions.

The ESAC initiative evolved from this workshop to communicate its
results, to preserve the discussion and to establish a platform where
practical solutions can be proposed.

As a first step, ESAC suggests an improved data exchange between
publishers and institutions in order to process invoices for APCs more
efficiently and to enable institutions to generate reports on their
APC budget expenses.  Additionally, some ideas for the enhancement of
workflows with regards to publisher’s submitting systems are
introduced.

Learn more at www.esac-initiative.org

Get in touch with us via [log in to unmask]

Best wishes,

Kai Geschuhn


Kai Karin Geschuhn
Max Planck Digital Library
Open Access & License Management
Amalienstraße 33 | 80799 München
Germany
Phone +49 (0) 89 38602 253
Fax +49 (0) 89 38602 290
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