The OPERAS-D team has conducted an analysis of academic and grey literature to identify and examine existing and emerging practices in open access publishing in the SSH, map the key stakeholders and outline key challenges in the open access publishing landscape and potential issues to be addressed by the OPERAS infrastructure. The study focuses primarily on the European environment, but also presents international initiatives of interest to the current analysis. The core findings of this desk review are in turn expected to feed into the Design Study and the roadmap that will define Governance models, structures and scientific and technical concepts for future services and the requirements for long-term sustainability, as well as the design of the business model that will address the purpose and economic logic of OPERAS.