Florida State Open Publishing (FSOP), a program of Florida State University Libraries, has opened its annual call for proposals for the third year in a row, inviting FSU faculty, staff and students to submit ideas for monographs, textbooks, journals and other specialized projects.
Housed within the Office of Digital Research and Scholarship, FSOP supports digital and print-on-demand books and journals that advance research by FSU scholars.
“Florida State Open Publishing is empowering our scholars to break down barriers and share their groundbreaking research, innovative textbooks and niche journals with the world — completely free and open to all,” said Debra Hanken Kurtz, associate dean of Technology and Digital Scholarship for FSU Libraries. “This is your opportunity to amplify your impact, reach new audiences and help redefine how knowledge is shared at FSU and beyond.”
“Florida State Open Publishing is empowering our scholars to break down barriers and share their groundbreaking research, innovative textbooks and niche journals with the world — completely free and open to all. This is your opportunity to amplify your impact, reach new audiences and help redefine how knowledge is shared at FSU and beyond.”
— Debra Hanken Kurtz, associate dean of Technology and Digital Scholarship for FSU Libraries
Drawing on the library’s expertise and resources, FSOP provides publishing services comparable to those of traditional publishers, while prioritizing open access to foster wider sharing of knowledge. Unlike commercial presses, library publishers often embrace innovative or experimental works and customize support to fit authors’ unique needs.
“We focus on output specifically from FSU faculty, students and staff,” said Lisa A. Johnson, open publishing assistant at FSOP and JPSS technical editor. “While there are many other library publishers around the country, we would have an interest in work that supports knowledge of our local and regional culture, works that create partnerships on our campus and with the Tallahassee community.”
A core element of FSOP’s mission is empowering scholars to pursue open access publishing, which broadens access to research and encourages collaboration. Studies show that open access works receive more citations and amplify researchers’ influence.
“Across library publishing programs there is a lot of variety in services, but because they exist within the library and university structure they have more latitude to support projects that may have a limited or niche scholarly audience and that may struggle to find a home with a traditional academic publisher,” said Landis Grenville, digital publishing librarian and manager of FSOP. “Our library publishing program is built around a belief in the importance of open access and modeling the free, accessible, timely dissemination of high-quality scholarship.”
As a library-led operation, FSOP’s advisory board carefully selects just a handful of projects each year. Staff collaborate closely with authors throughout editing, design and production, crafting tailored plans to meet each project’s goals. The hands-on partnership ensures that the published work fully captures the author’s vision and scholarly contributions.
“There are unique kinds of contributions that open access publishing makes,” said James (Jim) P. Sampson Jr., professor emeritus at FSU and senior research associate at the FSU Center for Career Research. “You can actually publish additional information, especially some of the translation of the research into practical applications, that maybe journals would not be as interested in.”
With the fall 2025 call underway, FSOP is eager to expand its catalog and highlight the scholarly impact of FSU’s community. Proposals are due Dec. 1, 2025. Submit your proposals at publishing.lib.fsu.edu.
For more information about FSU Libraries, visit lib.fsu.edu.