Stichting OA Switchboard
Stichting OA Switchboard is a Dutch not-for-profit foundation operating a community-led metadata exchange hub for open access scholarly publishing, connecting 42+ publishers, 21 consortia, and 280+ research institutions and funders via standardized messaging protocols built on DOI, ORCID, and ROR.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersThe Hague, Netherlands
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Stichting OA Switchboard does
Stichting OA Switchboard is a Dutch not-for-profit foundation (stichting) founded on October 16, 2020, that operates a community-led metadata exchange hub for open access scholarly publishing. The organization became fully operational on January 1, 2021, and serves as a neutral intermediary simplifying the exchange of scholarly communications metadata among academic publishers, research institutions, national consortia, and research funders. Headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands (Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5, 2595 BE), the foundation employs 1–10 staff and is governed through an Advisory Group and Working Groups with representation from all stakeholder communities. It was spun out of OASPA, which retains a strategic partnership.
The core technology is a standardized messaging protocol and API infrastructure built on persistent identifiers (DOI, ORCID, ROR). The platform supports multiple message types: P1 (Publication Notification), E1/E2 (Eligibility Enquiry/Reply), BE1/BE2 and BP1 (Book equivalents), and a P1-PIO public-information variant. Publishers connect via custom connectors, generic reverse connectors, direct API integration, or ONIX feeds for books. The OA Books Solution launched in October 2025 extends coverage to book and book chapter metadata exchange. The platform integrates downstream with institutional repositories (EPrints, Figshare), CRIS systems (Elsevier Pure), ERM tools (HARRASSOWITZ Fokus, ConsortiaManager), and workflow tools (TOPdesk). The software is open source and has been developed and maintained by technology partner ELITEX under a five-year relationship that began via RFI selection in 2020.
OA Switchboard operates on a participation-fee model: publishers, institutions, funders, and consortia pay annual fees under General Terms and Conditions; pricing tiers are not publicly disclosed. Revenue is supplemented by certified partner sponsorships, with historical sponsors including Aries Systems, Copyright Clearance Center, Cambridge University Press, IntechOpen, Iowa State University Library, University of Michigan Library, University of Michigan Press, and UCLA. Distribution occurs through direct API integration (typical lead time 5–7 weeks for publishers), certified integrators (Kriyadocs, Intelligence Beyond Inc.), and consortium subscriptions (FinELib, CzechELib, TIB-led German consortium, NERL). As of December 31, 2025 the network included 42 publisher participants, 21 consortia, and 280 research institutions and funders, with over 2.3 million messages routed and 42,000+ organizations connected.
Stichting OA Switchboard firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Stichting OA Switchboard
- Legal name
- Stichting OA Switchboard
- Website
- https://oaswitchboard.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Stichting OA Switchboard is a Dutch not-for-profit foundation operating a community-led metadata exchange hub for open access scholarly publishing, connecting 42+ publishers, 21 consortia, and 280+ research institutions and funders via standardized messaging protocols built on DOI, ORCID, and ROR.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Stichting OA Switchboard industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Scholarly Communications Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Information (51), Libraries and Archives (51921), Book Publishers (513130), Software Publishers (513210)
- SIC
- Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Access Academic Publishing (MPAJABAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs (EDAGAFAJ), Digital Archives, Libraries & Institutional Access Platforms (MPAJAMAJ)
Keywords
Where Stichting OA Switchboard is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- The Hague
- HQ country
- Netherlands
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Stichting OA Switchboard business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations
Revenue model
- Annual membership/participation fees: Participants (publishers, institutions, funders, consortia) pay annual participation fees to access the OA Switchboard infrastructure and services. Details are described in General Terms and Conditions.
- Certified partner sponsorships: Financial support from certified partners helps maintain and grow the OA Switchboard infrastructure and initiative.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Participant membership model with annual fees based on organization type |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels10 records
Stichting OA Switchboard product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Stichting OA Switchboard operates a community-led, not-for-profit metadata exchange hub that enables publishers, research institutions, and funders to share standardized open access publication metadata through a common messaging protocol. The infrastructure routes publication notifications, eligibility enquiries, and related messages using persistent identifiers (DOI, ORCID, ROR) and supports all open access business models including APC, non-APC, Subscribe to Open, and diamond OA. Participants integrate via API, certified integrators, or consortia subscriptions, reducing the many-to-many manual reporting burden across the scholarly communications ecosystem.
Product overview
OA Switchboard is a not-for-profit, community-led collaborative infrastructure providing a Metadata Exchange Hub for scholarly communications. The core platform enables standardized messaging protocols and shared infrastructure for exchanging open access publication metadata among publishers, institutions, and funders. The product portfolio includes: the core OA Switchboard Metadata Exchange Hub, various message types (P1, E1/E2, BP1, BE1/BE2, P1-PIO), the OA Books Solution for book and book chapter metadata, the OA Switchboard API for system integration, the Data Quality Challenge initiative, the Match & Deliver Project for improved ROR matching, Dashboard and Reporting Tools for participants, and a Certified Integrator Program. All offerings leverage existing PIDs (DOI, ORCID, ROR) and support all OA business models including APC, non-APC, Diamond, and Subscribe to Open (S2O).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- OA Switchboard Metadata Exchange Hub Central infrastructure platform providing a standardized messaging protocol and shared back-office services for exchanging scholarly communications metadata among publishers, institutions, and funders. Uses existing persistent identifiers (DOI, ORCID, ROR) for automated, real-time metadata exchange.
- OA Switchboard API REST API enabling publishers, institutions, and funders to integrate OA Switchboard metadata exchange capabilities into their own systems and workflows, supporting webhook notifications and automated data exchange.
- OA Books Solution Extension of the core messaging protocol to support book and book chapter metadata exchange, enabling publishers to send BP1 (Book Publication Notification) and BE1/BE2 (Book Eligibility Enquiry/Reply) messages for open access books via ONIX feed conversion.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 3.5 million messages sent through the hub
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Stichting OA Switchboard
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Stichting OA Switchboard technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration9 records
Feature5 records
Stichting OA Switchboard partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered founding, core and supporting.
- OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association)foundingOASPA prepared practicalities for the OA Switchboard project to run through 2020 and founded the independent Stichting OA Switchboard on 16 October 2020 with governance and funding structure to ensure sustainability. OASPA maintains a strategic partnership and active involvement with the initiative through joint initiatives and community building.
- ELITEXcoreELITEX is the third-party technology partner selected through RFI process to build and maintain the OA Switchboard open source solution. They developed the MVP and continue to provide development services. ELITEX has been the tech partner for 5 years.
- Certified IntegratorscoreCertified integrators work with funders, institutions, and publishers to technically connect their systems to the OA Switchboard API. Examples include Kriyadocs (Certified Integrator providing journal production platform integration) and Intelligence Beyond Inc. (conducted OA Books pilot evaluation).
- KriyadocscoreCertified Integrator for OA Switchboard. Kriyadocs implemented a direct integration between its XML-first journal production platform and OA Switchboard, enabling automated exchange of enriched article-level metadata at point of publication. Also integrates license and payment metadata from CCC's RightsLink.
- Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)supportingCCC provides RightsLink services supporting Open Access agreements, licensing, and transactional workflows. Kriyadocs integrates licensing and payment-related metadata from CCC with article-level publication metadata for OA Switchboard reporting.
- Intelligence Beyond Inc.supportingDevelopment partner that conducted interviews for OA Books pilot evaluation in Fall 2024 alongside OA Switchboard's Executive Director.
- HARRASSOWITZsupportingProvider of subscription management services. EUI Library uses HARRASSOWITZ Fokus platform which integrates OA Switchboard metadata with subscription information for evidence-based collection management.
- CrossrefsupportingOA Switchboard leverages Crossref infrastructure and works collaboratively on initiatives such as the Data Quality Challenge video animation to improve metadata practices across the ecosystem.
- ROR (Research Organization Registry)coreOA Switchboard leverages ROR IDs for organization identification and routing of messages. Collaborated on the Match & Deliver Project for improved ROR matching and the new affiliation matching strategy in the ROR API.
- ORCIDcoreOA Switchboard leverages ORCID iDs for author identification and linking outputs to researchers. Collaborated on Data Quality Challenge video animation and uses ORCID profiles for smart matching of affiliations.
- CzechELibcoreCzechELib consortium led by National Library of Technology of the Czech Republic (NTK) signed a multi-year membership agreement with OA Switchboard. Supports national transition to Open Access in the Czech Republic.
- FinELibcoreFinELib signed a multi-year membership agreement with OA Switchboard and subscribes on behalf of all member institutions to provide them with the opportunity to use the service without any extra fees.
- TIB-led German Consortiumcore22 multi-site German institutions signed up through a TIB-led consortium to participate in OA Switchboard. TIB, ZB MED and ZBW have played key roles in financing German participation since 2023.
- NERL (Northeast Research Libraries)coreNERL signed a 3-year agreement with OA Switchboard. NERL members will support global OA infrastructure with metadata that is authoritative, transparent, and timely, and gain more data for reporting, compliance, and assessment.
Scale indicators14 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Stichting OA Switchboard competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- ORCID: Non-profit organization providing persistent digital identifiers for researchers. OA Switchboard leverages ORCID iDs as a core input for matching and routing, and the two organizations co-developed content like the Data Quality Challenge video.
- ROR (Research Organization Registry): Community-led registry of persistent identifiers for research organizations. OA Switchboard depends on ROR IDs for organization identification and collaborates on the Match & Deliver Project to improve affiliation matching.
Direct peers
- DataCite: Non-profit DOI registration agency for research data and other scholarly outputs, providing metadata infrastructure similar to Crossref. As a sister PID infrastructure organization, DataCite competes for the same institutional relationships and serves overlapping scholarly communications use cases.
- Crossref: Official Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Registration Agency and scholarly metadata infrastructure provider. OA Switchboard's P1-messages are built on Crossref DOIs and the two organizations collaborate on the Data Quality Challenge, making Crossref the closest functional peer in the scholarly metadata ecosystem.
Others
- Copyright Clearance Center (CCC): Rights licensing and content workflow solutions provider serving publishers and institutions. A certified partner/sponsor of OA Switchboard and integrated via Kriyadocs to provide license and payment metadata, representing an adjacent but complementary infrastructure player.
- Figshare: Repository and research data management platform used by institutions including Carnegie Mellon (which integrated OA Switchboard data into its Figshare-based KiltHub repository). Functions as downstream consumer of OA Switchboard metadata.
- Kriyadocs: XML-first journal production platform and Certified Integrator for OA Switchboard. Implemented direct integration enabling automated exchange of enriched article-level metadata at point of publication for publishers like Microbiology Society.
Regional players
- JISC: UK digital, data, and technology agency for higher education and research, operating infrastructure for UK institutions. Provides comparable scholarly communications services (including PubRouter, which integrates with OA Switchboard) but focused on the UK market.
Emerging players
- OpenAIRE: EU-funded non-profit infrastructure for open science, providing services including a research graph, repository network, and open access monitoring. Overlaps with OA Switchboard in serving the European open science ecosystem with metadata and discovery infrastructure.
- ChronosHub: Publication management platform helping publishers, institutions, and funders manage open access workflows including agreements, submissions, and reporting. Competes with OA Switchboard for the institutional OA workflow integration use case.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Stichting OA Switchboard social profiles
Digital presenceStichting OA Switchboard financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Stichting OA Switchboard leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Stichting OA Switchboard funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Stichting OA Switchboard M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Stichting OA Switchboard
What does Stichting OA Switchboard do?
Stichting OA Switchboard operates a community-led, not-for-profit metadata exchange hub that enables publishers, research institutions, and funders to share standardized open access publication metadata through a common messaging protocol. The infrastructure routes publication notifications, eligibility enquiries, and related messages using persistent identifiers (DOI, ORCID, ROR) and supports all open access business models including APC, non-APC, Subscribe to Open, and diamond OA. Participants integrate via API, certified integrators, or consortia subscriptions, reducing the many-to-many manual reporting burden across the scholarly communications ecosystem.
Is Stichting OA Switchboard a public or private company?
Stichting OA Switchboard is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Stichting OA Switchboard founded?
Stichting OA Switchboard was founded in 2020. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Stichting OA Switchboard based?
Stichting OA Switchboard is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, in the Europe region.
How does Stichting OA Switchboard make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Annual membership/participation fees are the primary driver. The others are certified partner sponsorships.
Who are Stichting OA Switchboard's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are ORCID and ROR (Research Organization Registry). Direct peers are DataCite and Crossref. Others are Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), Figshare and Kriyadocs. JISC is listed as a regional player. Emerging players are OpenAIRE and ChronosHub.
Does Stichting OA Switchboard have an API?
Yes. OA Switchboard provides a standardized messaging protocol API that enables publishers, institutions, and funders to exchange scholarly communications metadata. The API supports automated webhook requests for research funders and institutions, enabling better connections with stakeholders' workflows and systems such as CRIS, institutional repositories, and library systems. The platform offers both REST API integration and (S)FTP inbound capabilities. Message types include E1/E2 (Eligibility Enquiry/Reply), P1 (Publication Notification), BE1/BE2 (Book Eligibility Enquiry/Reply), and BP1 (Book Publication Notification). Developer documentation is at bitbucket.org/oaswitchboard/api/src/master.
What industry is Stichting OA Switchboard in?
Stichting OA Switchboard's product category is Scholarly Communications Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJABAG, Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Access Academic Publishing, with a secondary code of EDAGAFAJ, Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs. Its NAICS code is 51 and its SIC code is 2731.