Scholarly communication is steadily shifting from traditional subscription-based models toward Open Science (OS) frameworks. While English-language STEM fields dominated the initial waves of the Open Access (OA) movement, the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), particularly those produced in non-Anglophone contexts, have historically faced structural and financial barriers to digital dissemination (Piwowar et al., 2018). In the Chinese-speaking world, where monograph publishing remains a primary vehicle for academic promotion and cultural preservation, the absence of a sustainable OA infrastructure has long hindered the global visibility of Sinophone research.

In response to these barriers, two collaborative initiatives were launched in Hong Kong: Open Books Hong Kong (OBHK) and the Open Journals Hub (OJH). These projects represent a strategic collaboration between the libraries and university presses of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), and The University of Hong Kong (HKU). This paper presents these initiatives as a practical case study, exploring how Hong Kong is positioning itself as a pivotal node in the global dissemination of Chinese scholarship.

The launch of OBHK in July 2024 aligns with Plan S principles, which mandate that research outputs from public grants be made immediately available under open licenses (cOAlition S, 2021). By transitioning from a profit-driven sales model toward a Collective Funding Model, participating Hong Kong institutions ensure that scholarly monographs are freely accessible to a global audience without relying on institutional subscriptions.
Monograph publication in the HSS faces high production costs and niche target audiences. OBHK was conceptualized as a pilot to demonstrate that high-quality, peer-reviewed Chinese monographs could thrive in an open environment.

Launched at the 2024 Hong Kong Book Fair, the project initially released nine works covering history, literature, and sociology. These titles utilized Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licenses, balancing free redistribution with the protection of authors’ moral rights. The success of this pilot is evidenced by its rapid expansion; by early 2025, the project reached a total of 54 monographs across six batches. This growing catalog provides a critical mass of content that attracts global researchers, thereby increasing the global reach of Hong Kong’s academic output.

Building upon the collaborative infrastructure of OBHK, the Open Journals Hub (OJH) was soft-launched in December 2025. The OJH operates on the Diamond Open Access model. Unlike Gold OA, which often requires authors to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs), —a practice that can exclude scholars from less-funded institutions,— this platform is free for both authors and readers (Fuchs & Sandoval, 2013).

The OJH was influenced by the modular architecture of UCL Open: Environment, serving as a bilingual (Chinese and English) hub tailored for HSS research. Its focus on regional cultural heritage, such as Lingnan Studies, ensures local knowledge is preserved digitally while remaining integrated into the global scholarly record. This initiative aligns with the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science (2021), which emphasizes multilingualism as a prerequisite for representing diverse knowledge systems.

The primary opportunity afforded by these initiatives is the strengthening of digital scholarly infrastructure. This collaboration mitigates the financial risks an individual university press might face when transitioning to OA. Furthermore, OBHK reported visitors from over 170 countries, suggesting a latent global audience for Chinese-language research previously untapped by paywalls.

While these initiatives have proven successful, specific operational challenges remain. In this presentation, we will detail how the project is actively addressing these hurdles:

• Sustainability: The Diamond OA model relies on institutional subsidies rather than transactional revenue. To secure long-term viability, we are actively advocating for university administrations to integrate OA funding as a permanent, core institutional mission rather than treating it as a temporary pilot project (Becerril-Ortega et al., 2021)..
• Prestige and Perception: Some scholars fear that “free” content may be perceived as having lower prestige. To counter this, OBHK and OJH have implemented and heavily publicized rigorous, double-blind peer-review standards identical to traditional commercial presses, ensuring the platforms remain highly attractive to established scholars.

OBHK and the OJH are not merely technical repositories ; they are practical steps toward equitable publishing. By prioritizing equitable access and multilingualism, these projects demonstrate how regional hubs can lead the global Open Science movement