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.

APPENDIX II
STATEMENT ON OPEN ACCESS

The full members of the OASPA agree that OA publishing is now an established part of the publishing landscape.  Full members are committed to establishing the highest standards of conduct amongst all OA publishers, and to encouraging the broader adoption of OA publishing models in all fields of research and scholarship.

Full members of the OASPA shall adhere to a common interpretation of Open Access scholarly publishing that includes the following components:

• The dissemination of peer-reviewed manuscripts containing original research or scholarship immediately upon publication, at no charge to user groups, without requiring registration or other restrictions to access.

• Copyright holders allow users to "copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship..."

We recognize that some members might wish to impose some restrictions on reuse, such as commercial reuse, but any restrictions must be clearly indicated. 

Full members of the OASPA are encouraged to include the following statement on their website or homepage:

[Name of Organization/Journal] is committed to working toward a business model that:

• Allows the dissemination of peer reviewed (or otherwise)  manuscripts containing original research or scholarship immediately upon publication, at no charge to user groups, without requiring registration or other restrictions to access.

• Requires copyright holders to allow users to "copy, use, distribute, transmit, and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship..."