Update to our legal status

Engineering Archive started as and has remained a grassroots effort, by researchers, for researchers. As Engineering Archive has grown, it has become increasingly necessary to create an entity that is capable of managing its own finances and have its own legal status. Up to this point, Engineering Archive has been almost entirely financed by Director Devin Berg in addition to the in-kind contributions of the Center for Open Science.

With that in mind, Devin launched Open Engineering Inc. to search as an umbrella organization, and legal entity, over the top of Engineering Archive. Open Engineering is:

a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization for the promotion of open practices in the engineering field. We are working towards increased awareness of open practices as well as providing tools to better enable engineers to be more open. We also provide resources and trainings that allow engineers to develop open workflows and participate more fully in the open dissemination of engineering knowledge.

Under Open Engineering, we now have the ability to accept tax-deductible donations and use other forms of generating income such as Amazon Smile.

Introducing the Membership Circle

Financing a grassroots effort such as Engineering Archive has always been, and probably will always be, a challenge. To this end, Engineering Archive has launched a new funding mechanism called the Membership Circle for libraries and institutions interested in supporting open engineering scholarship. We hope that in the shifting landscape of academic publishing, academic libraries and institutions will be able to find room in their budgets to support open access efforts such as Engineering Archive. At risk of sounding self-serving, we feel that efforts such as Engineering Archive are critical for increasing the availability of research and knowledge to the general public, particularly when the generation of that knowledge is publicly funded. This is especially important in engineering, a field where when applied correctly can have significant positive societal impact.

Your help needed!

We hope that all our Engineering Archive advocates will consider supporting these efforts by either helping us with a direct donation to Open Engineering or by advocating at your own institutions for them to support Engineering Archive and open engineering scholarship by joining the Engineering Archive Membership Circle.