The CRAFT-OA Training Curriculum

Strengthening Scholar-Led Publishing in Europe

Written by Lisa Müller

The CRAFT-OA project is dedicated to strengthening and evolving scholar-led institutional publishing across Europe, with a particular focus on Diamond Open Access (OA) journal publishing. This ambitious three-year initiative aims to develop and implement a range of services and tools, alongside comprehensive training programs and materials to help stakeholders enhance and professionalise their content, platforms, and services.

Introducing the Reusable Curriculum for Upskilling Trainings

In this blog post, we highlight the Deliverable D2.2 Reusable Curriculum for Upskilling Trainings. Initially published in April 2024 on Zenodo and subsequently released as a Gitbook, this curriculum addresses the diverse training needs of Open Access Journal editors, reviewers, Institutional Publishing Service Providers (IPSPs), and Institutional Publishing Technology and Tool Providers (IPTPs).

A Modular Framework for Diverse Publishing Environments

The curriculum offers a modular framework considering the varied technical standards and publishing environments employed by different stakeholders. It does not only identify essential training topics but also provides in-depth details on each topic, showcases existing training materials, and offers practical guidance on organising and structuring effective training sessions.

Tailored Training Topics

Each training topic within the curriculum is assigned to a potential target audience, a user level, and the corresponding FAIR principles. This categorisation ensures that the training is relevant and accessible to all participants, catering to their specific roles and experience levels.

The Curriculum Checklist: A Backbone for Upskilling

Central to this framework is the curriculum checklist, which succinctly presents all the training topics. This list serves as a backbone for any upskilling agenda, offering a clear and structured overview of the topics and the curriculum chapter it refers to.

Thematic Blocks Addressing Technical Gaps

The curriculum is organised into thematic blocks that address the technical gaps identified by the Craft-OA Deliverable 3.2. These blocks include:

• Publishing systems and their features
• Metadata I: quality through standards 
• Metadata II: identifiers
• Metadata III: licensing, OA, and self-archiving policy 
• Content accessibility 

Detailed Notes and Modular Build-Up

Each thematic block is further divided into three chapters:

1. Suggested Training Topics: This chapter lists relevant training topics organised into thematic sections. For example, the block “Content Accessibility” includes thematic sections such as “Content Provisioning,” “Content Harvesting and Indexing,” “Content Depositing and Export,” and “Content Long-Term Archiving.”
2. Notes on Training Topics: This chapter explains the reasons for selecting specific topics, their naming conventions, and their logical assignment to sections.
3. Modules Build-Up: This chapter focuses on combining topics into different training modules. It considers factors such as the knowledge level of the audience, the type of audience, the practical objectives of the training, the theoretical frameworks used (e.g., FAIR principles), and the publishing systems the audience uses.

Adaptability and Flexibility for Maximum Impact

One of the key strengths of this curriculum is its adaptability. Designed to be flexible, the curriculum may be customised to fit the specific context and mode of training required by different institutions and professionals. This ensures that the training remains relevant and effective, regardless of the unique challenges and standards faced by different publishing environments.

CRAFT-OA D2.2 “Reusable Curriculum for Upskilling Trainings” is thus an essential resource for those involved in the academic publishing field. By offering a comprehensive, adaptable, and modular framework, it equips editors, reviewers, IPSPs, and IPTPs with a methodology to address the upskilling needs of the diverse technical standards of the industry.