Sustainable Open Access funding for your books, journals, and other resources.
Knowledge Unlatched provides large and small academic publishers with a proven, transparent way to reach a global audience.
How publishers can partner with KU
KU connects publishers with global libraries in support of collective funding for open access. Publishers of books, journals and other resources can participate in a pledging program that prioritizes transparency, communication, and collaboration.
- KU Select Books Collection: publishers are invited to submit individual titles within a range of carefully selected subjects in the humanities and social sciences to be considered for the collection. Titles are selected by librarian voters.
- KU Curated Partner Collections and KU Open Knowledge Resources: publishers and libraries are provided the opportunity to work together on collection development, with publishers curating high-quality thematic collections to help libraries meet the needs of their academic, professional, and public audiences.
Open Access extends the reach of research both within and beyond the academy.
KU Select Books Collection
Our transparent, global librarian voting process is key to providing a comprehensive collection of high‑quality research in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
KU Curated Partner Collections
Content from our publisher partners is selected and organized into thematic collections that clearly connect scholarship to policy, professional practice, and public engagement.
Open Knowledge Resources
Initiatives that extend OA beyond traditional, title-based publishing to support content creation, digitization processes, and platform or workflow development.
Subscribe to Open (S2O)
Subscribe to Open (S2O) enables publishers to remove paywalls without shifting costs to authors, maintaining equity while supporting long-term Open Access sustainability.
Publishers + KU + Libraries = Open Access for Global Readers
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ContentPublishers submit titles and resources for pledging consideration.
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CurationKU Select Books: Librarians worldwide are invited to vote on titles submitted by publishers for consideration.
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CurationCurated Partner Collections: Publishers provide thematic collections of titles and resources organized for pledging.
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Institutional FundingLibraries, consortia, and research institutes pledge funds to support content.
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UnlatchingIf aggregate pledging is sufficient, content is published Open Access and made available to global readers.
Distribution & Discoverability
Unlatched titles are available on OAPEN and indexed across the major OA platforms, with MARC records, KBART lists, and DOI metadata flowing into discovery layers worldwide.
Partnership & Promotion
Publishers and collections are promoted through the pledging catalog, social channels, and industrywide events, reaching the KU/Annual Reviews audience of researchers, librarians, and institutional decision-makers.
As a small university press, we could never have built an OA program at this scale on our own. KU gave us infrastructure, a library community, and predictable funding.
Share our commitment to Diamond Open Access?
Contact the KU Team to participate in the KU program.