MEMBER CLASSES, CRITERIA, AND BASIS FOR MEMBERSHIP

Full Membership Classes

• Open access (OA) professional publishing organizations – Organizations that include at least one full-time professional who manages the publication of OA scholarly journals.  These organizations may be for-profit or nonprofit, and they may own journals or manage the publication of journals on a contract basis for societies or other groups of scientists or scholars.  Members of this class may also include organizations such as academic/research libraries, university presses, or other organizations in which the primary focus is other than publishing scholarly journals but still employ full-time professionals who manage the publication of OA scholarly journals.
• OA scientist/scholar publishers – Individuals or small groups of scientists/scholars that publish usually a single scholarly journal in their field of study. The publication process is often largely subsidized by volunteer effort.
• Other organizations – Other organizations who provide significant services and/or support for OA publishing.  The Board will determine whether a particular organization qualifies to be a voting member in this class.

To be considered an OA scholarly publisher and eligible for full membership, the journals published by the Publisher must:

• Comply with the Statement on Open Access (Appendix II);
• Comply with the Association’s Professional Code of Conduct;
• Publish at least one journal that regularly publishes original research or scholarship which is OA;

Associate Membership
Other organizations, groups, or individuals who have a legitimate interest in OA publishing may join the association as non-voting members, participate in the organization, and enjoy member benefits except voting.
Examples of qualifying organizations include but are not limited to:

• Publishing organizations that publish scholarly journals that are considering or currently provide some level of OA but do not meet the criteria above;
• Individuals, societies, or other scientific or scholarly groups with a genuine  interest in OA publishing.

* Both "OA professonal publishing organizations" and "other Organizations" are divided into "small" and "large" organizations based on whether they have above gross annual revenues above or below $1,000,000 (USD).