Talk given at the Publishers for Development Conference, Oxford, UK, August 14th 2014.

1. What Could Publishing Disruption
Bring to the Developing World?
Publishers for Development Conference, Oxford, August 14th 2014
Brian Hole, Founder and CEO
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

2. 1 About UP
2 University
Presses
3 Our network
4 Extending to the
developing world
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

3. About Ubiquity Press
To return control of publishing to societies, universities and
researchers, providing them with the infrastructure and support
to not only match but to outcompete the legacy publishers.
Background
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress
Mission
 Spun out of University College London in 2012
 Researcher-led
 50+ years publishing experience
(BioMed Central, PLoS, Elsevier, IoP)
 Current staff of 13, office in London
 Comprehensive approach: journals,
books, data, software, wetware…

4. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

5. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

6. Research integrity
 Full anti-plagiarism checking
 Rigorous peer review
 Editorial guidance and training
 Provision for open peer review
COPE membership for all editors
 Close links with university’s ethics committee
 Provision for open research data and software
archiving with all publications
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

7. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

8. Partnership model with subsidised members
 Aim is to help each member
become more independently
sustainable over time
 Assuming 100% waivers to
begin with
 Simple press (5 journals, 10
books per year) cost: £60K
 For a network of 20 presses
from developed countries:
 £3000 per year each
(tax deductible), or
 Additional £5 per article,
£50 per book TJ Gehling, ‘Formation flying’ (CC-BY) https://flic.kr/p/gM84Rh
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress

9. For any questions, please contact
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
More information
Ubiquity Press website: http://www.ubiquitypress.com
Koh, A. 2012. Open Access Ahoy! An Interview with Ubiquity Press. The Chronicle of
Higher Education. Available: http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/ubiquity/43312
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com www.ubiquitypress.com / @ubiquitypress