Publishing platform supporting open access publishing of scholarly books, book series, and journals

The University of Helsinki is seeking tenders for a digital platform and publishing services for the Helsinki University Press (HUP) and its journals. The platforms for the Press and journals’ management can be separate entities but are referred to here as ‘the platform’. Helsinki University Press is a fully open access, scholarly publishing house operating under the Helsinki University Library. HUP publishes high-quality scholarly literature, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, and follows a rigorous peer review process. All HUP’s publications – including its books and journals – are freely available online via HUP’ website and other platforms. Books are also available in print on demand. The Buyer will select the most economically advantageous tender, employing the best price/quality ratio, and will conclude an agreement on the publishing platform services indicated in the invitation to tender with the selected tenderer. The agreement is valid until further notice.The agreement will apply to Helsinki University Press. Tenders must be submitted in English and the platform and services included in the tender should be usable in English. The support and specialist services included in the tender should be provided in English.

The University of Helsinki is seeking tenders for a digital platform and publishing services for the Helsinki University Press (‘the Press’) and its journals. The platforms for the Press and journals’ management can be separate entities but are referred to here as ‘the platform’. The platform will support the publication of academic open access content (books, book series, journals), host a dedicated website for the Press and individual journals (currently three), and facilitate the management of these journals. Additionally, the platform must include a comprehensive management system for authors and the editorial teams, which should have equal functionalities and interfaces as OJS based platforms. The features of the Press platform will be used for website hosting, book production services and indexing of open access books in digital libraries and indexes, such as DOAB, EBSCO, Google books, OAPEN, JSTOR, and Web of Science book citation index and Scopus books. For the journal content, the platform will be used for online submission and editorial management of journal content and processes. The journal platform will be managed by editorial team members of each journal. The journals’ individual websites are used for reading and downloading the journal's content, accessing the author interface, and displaying news etc. content. In future, the Press might publish more journals, and the platform provider should take this into consideration in their proposals. Proposals should outline the technological capabilities, support services, and any additional features that enhance the academic publishing experience. The most economically advantageous tender will be chosen based on the criterion mentioned below. Tenders will be assessed against each other based on the clarifications specified in the tenders. The evaluation criteria is divided in parts and will be weighted as described below: Price information 30 % Quality 55 % Quality: demonstration 15 % The process of assessing tenders includes two stages. At the first stage, the tenders received will be scored for sections (1) Price and (2) Quality, on the basis of which a certain number of tenderers will be selected for the next stage (3) Quality: demonstration. No more than five (5) tenderers will be selected for a demonstration. The tenderers who have no more than 15 points less than the tenderer with the highest score on the basis of sections 1 to 2 will be selected for the demonstration stage.