Beyond Journals: Expanding the EZB to Include Information on Open Access Agreements

The shift towards Open Access (OA) and associated necessities of budget planning and contract negotiations require reliable information on publication cost data. The openCost project supports this by creating a technical infrastructure that enables the exchange of publication cost data via standardized formats and interfaces. During its second phase, the project will aim to expand the Electronic Journals Library (EZB) to cover information on OA agreements.The current state of development includes the recently released Journals API. This interface provides machine-readable metadata for journals listed in the EZB, such as access conditions, price types, languages, keywords, and journal categories. External services, i.e. oa.finder, can now retrieve current information via the API, alongside the traditional EZB data exports.Additionally, a linked information platform is being developed and integrated into the EZB to manage detailed data on OA agreements and funding models. This platform will aggregate information on OA agreements, memberships, transformative contracts, and models such as Diamond Open Access. Building on existing resources, including the ESAC Transformative Agreement Registry, it connects data from various sources. Iterative extensions to the API and administration interfaces will facilitate effective interaction with this information platform.Expanding the EZB in this way supports researchers and library staff in comparing publication options and managing cost information. At the same time, data will be provided in a structured, machine-readable format for reuse in external systems. These developments enable consistent and automated exchange of cost- and contract-related data within openCost.