How open is CU Boulder Research? Libraries share the 2025 State of Open report
CU Boulder researchers produced about 3,579 publications in 2024. But, how much of that scholarly work is freely accessible to the public? The latest 2025 State of Open Report produced by the Center for Research Data & Digital Scholarship (CRDDS) with the University Libraries has found that 74% of CU Boulder research outputs this year were published as Open Access (OA) reflecting the Libraries’ strategic initiative to reduce barriers and increase the impact of scholarly work.
In 2024, the Libraries funded $120,193 in author fees for 66 articles in fully OA journals, with an average article processing charge (APC) of $1,821. Since the fund’s inception, it has supported 477 articles across 207 journals.
“This year’s report continues to demonstrate how central open sharing of research is to CU Boulder researchers,” said Andrew Johnson, head of Data & Scholarly Communication Services. “We’re seeing growth in open monographs, data sharing and repository use. CRDDS and the Libraries are here to help faculty and graduate students navigate this evolving landscape.”
Additional highlights from the report:
- CU Scholar hosted 19,817 open access items, a 13.6% increase since 2023.
- Items in CU Scholar were downloaded 35,923 times, similar to downloads in 2023.
- CRDDS and the Libraries helped CU Boulder researchers publish 544 data sets openly in CU Scholar in 2024.
- The CU Boulder Open Monograph Fund has supported 11 open monographs since 2021, expanding access to scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.
CRDDS and the Libraries offer funding and guidance to help researchers navigate OA publishing, including support for federal mandates requiring open dissemination of funded research. Faculty and graduate students are encouraged to explore these opportunities.