Schedule a scoping consultation with your School Librarian

Your School Librarian^[1] will meet with you to discuss your proposal and expectations for publishing with Western Open Books. This initial consultation is an opportunity to explore your publishing goals, clarify the scope of your project, and identify the support available throughout the publishing process.

Consider discussing the following stages:

What to expect: open text publishing stages

1. Proposal
Meet with your School Librarian to discuss your proposed project and assess alignment with the Western Open Books criteria.

2. Initial scoping consultation
Meet with the Western Open Books team to scope your project in more detail. You’ll discuss your goals, sign the Author Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and receive essential resources and templates.

3. Start planning
The Library will support you to:

• • Plan the structure of your open text
  • Outline your timeframe
  • Coordinate resources
  • Provide templates
  • Offer expert guidance
  • Promote your open text through appropriate channels

4. Begin writing
Start drafting your chapters and gathering supporting materials, including media or interactive content.

5. Progress support workshops
Attend regular check-ins with the Western Open Books team to maintain momentum, seek guidance, and plan your next steps.

6. Quality assurance
Submit your first draft for:

• • Copyright review
  • Peer review
  • Copyediting
  • Final quality checks
    This ensures your open text meets high standards for academic rigour, accessibility, and usability.

7. Publish
Your open text will be:

• • Catalogued and indexed
  • Assigned a DOI (Learn more^[2])
  • Published on the Western Open Books platform
  • Promoted to relevant audiences across and beyond WSU

8. Recognition, reward, and evaluation
The Library will help you track metrics to support:

• • Grant applications
  • Awards and fellowships
  • Academic promotion

Acceptance criteria

For publishing free, openly accessible content with the Library and Western Open Books

To be considered for publication through Western Open Books, proposals must meet the following criteria:

• At least one author must be affiliated with Western Sydney University (WSU).

• The proposed resource must either:

  • Be intended for use in a specific WSU course or microcredential, or

  • Support the University’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• If the proposal involves a collection of conference papers or articles, all included works must have undergone peer review and copy editing.

Training needs

Discuss training needs, including Creative Commons licensing^[3]

Resourcing needs

Discuss resourcing needs, including finding and evaluating open-access content^[4]