UniSQ offers a suite of services related to the publication of open texts. This alternative to traditional publishing results in a professional-looking publication, openly available for others to read and reuse. For examples of our past publications, please look at our catalogue.

The OEP team will assist from start to finish. Our services include:

Training and Consultations

We provide training and consultations to prepare you to produce an open text. This may include:

• understanding copyright and open licensing
• finding and adapting open educational resources
• using our publishing platform, Pressbooks.

Copyright Support and Clearance

We will review the manuscript for potential copyright issues. We will apply for permissions as necessary and may also suggest openly sourced alternatives. The author/s is responsible for any associated copyright fees.

The OEP team can advise on the appropriate Creative Commons licence for your work.

Editorial Support

The OEP team will provide authors with guidelines on editorial standards, including style templates, and advice on aligning content to the formatting of the Pressbooks authoring platform. However, the team does not offer copy editing or a proofreading service.

Formatting and Design Support

The OEP team will provide support for the Pressbooks platform, including:

• designing sample chapter/s and providing design support
• plugins, such as H5P and TablePress
• graphic design capabilities, and liaison with UniSQ’s multimedia team
• accessibility and usability testing.

Post-Publication Support

We also provide post-publication support, including:

• metadata and search engine optimisation support
• depositing your text into national and international repositories, including:
• UniSQ’s Library catalogue
• Open Textbook Library
• Pressbooks Directory
• The National edeposit (NED) service, maintained by the National and State Libraries Australasia.
• OER Commons
• providing each author with a dashboard of analytics for their text
• promotional support, including distribution in the Australasian Open Educational Practice Special Interest Group Digest (OEPSIG)
• archiving
• training on how you can update and maintain your text.

Open Educational Practice Grants

Each year we offer Open Educational Practice Grants to innovate and/or develop Open Educational Practices that support the focus areas of Open Assessment, Open Texts, and Open Ancillary Resource Creation.

This is a competitive funding call and applications will be assessed by a panel using a set of evaluative criteria. The funding rounds are publicised internally via email. Information sessions are conducted for all prospective applicants, and a structured coaching program is available to maximise the potential outcome of your application.

Ongoing Support

As part of the open publishing service, the OEP team will provide ongoing support for the project, including:

• guiding authors through the publishing workflow
• structuring the book
• managing timelines for book production
• liaising with other departments (eg. graphics).