We are extremely pleased to announce that the journal Architectural Histories, published by Ubiquity Press, is to remove its Article Processing Charges (APCs) through a partnership with the Open Library of Humanities. Architectural Histories is the journal of the European Architectural History Network, which was established in 2005 to support research and education by providing a public forum for the exchange and dissemination of knowledge of the histories of architecture. Based in Europe, the network is open to architectural historians and scholars in allied fields from all countries and was hosted by the Technical University in Delft until 2013, when it moved to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). Since the journal's current publisher, Ubiquity Press, provides the technological infrastructure and publishing platform at the Open Library of Humanities, Architectural Histories will not need to migrate its published content but can continue with its current publishing format. However, funding from the Open Library of Humanities' library partner network will mean that authors will no longer be charged to publish in the journal.

Since its launch in 2013, the journal has quickly established its reputation as a prestigious international title publishing scholarship on architectural history that is relevant to a wide number of disciplines and covers a range of different methodologies. External reviewers of the journal's application to join the OLH praised Architectural Histories, noting that it is “one of the most rigorous and stimulating venues for presentation of innovative scholarship in the history of architecture and the built environment and related disciplines”.

Professor Martin Paul Eve, a co-founder and CEO of the OLH, said of this partnership: “Article Processing Charges may work well in disciplines with large grants. In many humanities spaces, though, they simply cause a barrier that looks like a 'pay to say' model. We are, therefore, delighted that our libraries voted to partner with Architectural Histories in order to remove these fees but to still achieve open access.”

Dr Caroline Edwards, co-founder and Editorial Director of the OLH, added: "Architectural Histories is an excellent addition to the journals supported by OLH. The journal brings with it a prestigious reputation and the backing of its scholarly community, which includes scholars whose expertise spans the discipline and who are located across the globe in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia – an editorial board and readership well suited to the OLH’s mission to support open access around the globe."

Professor Maarten Delbeke of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at Ghent Universit, an editor of the journal, added: “Since its foundation the EAHN has made it its mission to provide an inclusive platform for architectural historians, accessible to all regardless of the research funds and infrastructure at their disposal. Publishing our articles Open Access supports that mission, but the APCs — a much debated issue within EAHN — could act as an impediment. By joining OLH Architectural Histories is now able to provide all potential authors free access to its pages.”

The Open Library of Humanities is an academic-led, gold open-access publisher with no author-facing charges. With funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the platform covers its costs by payments from an international library consortium, rather than any kind of author fee.

Existing journals wishing to move to the platform should submit an initial enquiry to martin.eve@openlibhums.org. Libraries outside the US and UK interested in joining the OLH Library Partnership Subsidy model should contact Dr. Martin Paul Eve: martin.eve@openlibhums.org. UK-based libraries can join through Jisc Collections at http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/Catalogue/Overview/Index/2120. US-based libraries can join through LYRASIS at https://lyrasis.openlibhums.org. European libraries can join here: http://lps.openlibhums.org/ or send an enquiry to our European Library Partnership Manager: saskia.devries@openlibhums.org.

Featured image by Stijn Nieuwendijk under a CC BY-NC-ND license.