CrimRxiv launches its Consortium - An international, institutional network of open criminology's leaders, supporters, & providers

ATLANTA — CrimRxiv, criminology’s global open access (OA) hub and repository, has announced the CrimRxiv Consortium: an international, institutional network to advance open criminology for impact and social justice. The Consortium launched with seventeen Founding Members from Canada, England, Germany, New Zealand, and United States.

“This network is years in the making,” said CrimRxiv’s founder and associate director for sustainability, Scott Jacques, a professor of criminology at Georgia State University. “We will invent, implement, and improve high-ROI ways to make criminology free for everyone.”

The Consortium is led by CrimRxiv’s biggest supporters to date:

• University of Manchester (UoM), Department of Criminology, the home of CrimRxiv since March

• UoM, Office for Open Research, a global leader and innovator in OA

• Knowledge Futures (KF), maker of CrimRxiv’s open-source publishing platform, PubPub

They are joined by fourteen world-leading criminology groups:

• Georgia State University, Evidence-Based Cybersecurity Research Group

• John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Research & Evaluation Center

• Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security & Law

• Northeastern University, Center on Crime, Race & Justice

• Simon Fraser University, School of Criminology

• Temple University, Department of Criminal Justice

• UCL, Bentham Project

• Université de Montréal, École de Criminologie

• University of Cambridge, Institute of Criminology, Prisons Research Center

• University of Georgia, Department of Sociology

• University of Missouri—St. Louis, Dept. of Criminology & Criminal Justice

• University of Nebraska Omaha, School of Criminology & Criminal Justice

• University of Texas at Dallas, Criminology & Criminal Justice

• University of Waikato, Te Puna Haumara New Zealand Institute for Security & Crime Science

“This is our field’s most important network of institutional leaders,” Jacques said. “They’re changing our ecosystem from closed to open access. It’s a huge challenge and responsibility. It’s an even bigger opportunity and privilege. Working together is utilitarian.”

To incentivize and thank institutions for their participation in the Consortium, each member receives its own “Hub” on CrimRxiv, which aggregates and centralizes their authors’ OA publications from across the internet. Other member-benefits are:

• Inclusion on the Consortium’s landing-page

• Custom URL for their Hub

• Private access to their Hub’s Impact Data Dashboard

• Marketing badges, with a QR code to their Hub

• Priority moderation with email support

• Coverage under CrimRxiv’s rights-retention license

• Participate in quarterly, member-wide calls to discuss improvement

• Access to additional services and opportunities, e.g. inclusion on the Consortium’s job-opportunities page

• Plus, for libraries and funders who want to support OA broadly, inclusion in KF’s separate membership program for public digital infrastructure.

The Consortium’s launch coincides with CrimRxiv’s transition to a new director. Judith Aldridge, a professor of criminology at UoM, is stepping-down from the position. A subsequent announcement will name her successor. Jacques said of Aldridge, “It’s impossible to overstate her impact on criminology. CrimRxiv went to Manchester because of her. It’s flourishing because of her. She’ll always be our Queen.”

To learn more about the CrimRxiv Consortium and discuss opportunities to collaborate, email CrimRxiv’s Founder and Associate Director for Sustainability, Scott Jacques. To connect with Members, email the Consortium’s account. Follow them on Twitter @CrimConsortium.