Conference 2024: openCost

From October 8 to 9, 2024, the international conference “openCost: The Road to Publication Cost Transparency – The Next Stage” took place at the University of Regensburg. There, the project partners—the university libraries of Regensburg and Bielefeld, as well as the German Electron Synchrotron—presented the project’s findings and opportunities for the community to make further use of them.

In addition, international experts shared their perspectives on the monitoring of publication costs and the importance of cost transparency during two sessions titled “International Cost Monitoring.” Another session focused on transformation agreements.

A hands-on lab on centralized publication cost tracking, as well as the workshop day held prior to the 2024 conference, also provided ample opportunity for in-depth discussion. The hands-on lab provided practical insights and an open forum for publication cost managers. The workshop was aimed in particular at repository operators and system providers. Starting with a brief presentation of the openCost implementation at the institutions involved in the project, implementation options were discussed there together with the participants.

All presentation slides were published in PUBDB.

Slides

Ball, J.
The hidden costs of open access: navigating to a more equitable future
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01559] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Barbers, I.
Shaping Transparency for Publication Costs: Collecting, Analyzing and Reporting Cost Data Using a Standardized Data Schema
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01558] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Bartlewski, J.
The Repository as focal point: Cost data in Bielefeld's PUB system as part of an information budget
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01549] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Bartlewski, J.
OpenAPC: New features and extensions in the context of openCost
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01557] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Broschinski, C. (Corresponding author) ; Stein, L.-M. (Corresponding author)
The openCost metadata schema
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2025-00976] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Broschinski, C.
An Aggregator's Perspective: Harvesting Repositories in OpenAPC
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01551] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Deinzer, G.
A new dataobject (entity) in EPrints for contracts/agreements with publishers
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01547] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Fröberg, J. (Corresponding author)
Monitoring costs of scholarly publishing in Sweden – read and publish agreements, APC:s in the wild and subscriptions
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01556] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Große, K. (Corresponding author)
Lessons learned when using the DESY JOIN2 APC-Modul at GSI in different publication infrastructure for the DFG OA monitoring
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01473] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Grypari, I.
Supporting Strategic Decision-Making with Open Cost Data: Insights from OpenAIRE and PathOS
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01563] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Jones, R.
Tracking institution and journal relationships in TAs: the devil in the details
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01567] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Kaier, C. ; Stummvoll, M.
Monitoring and Analysis of Publication Costs - The Austrian Approach
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01554] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Lang, C. (Corresponding author) ; Stein, L.-M. (Corresponding author)
Hands-on Lab: Central publication cost reporting
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01561] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Mescherowsky, C.
RWTH Aachen University on the way to cost transparency in publishing
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01553] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Neumann, K.
Progress report on the integration of openCost into the MyCoRe repository framework
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01548] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Rege, A.
APCs Under the Microscope: Six Years of Monitoring and AnalyzingScientific Publication Costs in France
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01555] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Schäffler, H.
Negotiating Transformative Agreements – Standards and Variation, Achievements and Challenges
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01566] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Schmidt, B. ; Mehrtens, H.
openCost@GEOMAR
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01552] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Sippl, C. ; Weisheit, S.
openCost@EZB: Journal Information for Repositories
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01550] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Sippl, C. ; Weisheit, S.
openCost & EZB: An Introduction to the New Features for Providing Information on Publication Costs and OA Publishing
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01568] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

van der Leij, A. ; Trentacosti, G.
Open access safari: Tracking the hidden costs of APCs in the wild
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01565] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Vilén, T.
Two Years After: Cost Monitoring in Finland
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01564] OpenAccess Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

Wagner, A. (Corresponding author)
Paying is not enough
2024openCost: The Road To Publication Cost Transparency - The Next Stage, RegensburgRegensburg, Germany, 7 Oct 2024 - 9 Oct 20242024-10-072024-10-09 [10.3204/PUBDB-2024-06081] OpenAccess Files Fulltext BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS