Open monographs: new version of the DINI quality standards
In the humanities, books are still one of the main ways to publish research. But what makes a good open access book, and what should a publisher provide? The quality standards of the university presses working group in the German Initiative for Network Information (DINI) answer these questions. The third version has just been released.
The revision reflects recent developments. For the first time, it covers generative AI: publishers should decide how they handle these tools, and readers should be able to see where AI was used. The requirements on accessibility, authors’ rights, peer review and metadata have also been made clearer.
One point stands out for the Text+ community: books are no longer treated as self-contained works. Publishers should check whether a book project has produced research data, such as corpora, transcriptions or databases. They should help authors make this data available and link it to the publication. This connects the guideline directly to what Text+ is about.
Publishers can use the standards to review their own workflows. Funders, such as open access publication funds, can use them as a reference for their criteria. A blog post on the DINI blog gives an overview of all the changes.