Open access book publishing

Researchers in higher education will be very familiar with the practice of making journal articles open access. Now that funders like UKRI, Welcome and Horizon have started requiring the same for long-form publications, the topic of open access books has been getting a lot more attention. 

In this blog post we consider the open access publishing of scholarly books, which includes monographs, book chapters, conference proceedings and edited collections. As well as the benefits for authors, we’ll look at options for publishing longform publications open access, including routes to open access and how to choose a publisher. We’ll also be highlighting an exciting initiative called Trailblazers which supports early career researchers publish their first book. 

Why publish open access?

Research by Springer Nature (2017) and Neylon et al. (2021) looking into the usage of open access books has found that open access books have higher numbers of downloads and more citations than closed books (ten times as many downloads and twice the number of citations). The analyses also highlight that open access books have a wider geographical reach than non-open access books and enable “increased access and usage for underserved populations and low or middle income countries, including a high number of countries from Africa” (Neylon et al. ibid.)

Open access books are published in a range of digital formats (ePub, HTML, MOBI and PDFs) which cost less to publish than print books with the added bonus to readers that formats can be more accessible and licences will permit reuse (many publishers will publish print and premium versions alongside digital if authors wish). Deciding to publish open access results in additional positive outcomes for authors such as increased impact upon practice in non-academic contexts, unanticipated audiences, and quicker adoption within teaching. 

Despite the benefits for authors and for readers, there are many misconceptions about open access publishing that deter authors from publishing open access. For example, there is the notion that open access books are of a poorer quality than non-open titles, or that authors choosing to publish open access forgo all royalties. The Open Access Books Network dispels many of these myths in a series of videos which you can access on their YouTube channel. So, if you are able to make your long-form publications open access, there shouldn’t be a good reason not to!

How can you publish scholarly books open access?

Publishing academic books open access involves similar routes to journal articles which will be familiar to you- Gold or Green. 

Gold open access is where your monograph or book chapter is made openly accessible by the publisher after the payment of a fee: for monographs this is known as a book processing charge (BPC) and for book chapters, a chapter publishing charge (CPC). Typically, BPCs costs range from £3,000-£15,000 (or more!), whilst CPCs start at around £1,000. Funders may cover costs for open access publishing so if you are in receipt of funding you should check what they allow. UKRI for example will pay up to £10,000 for a BPC and £1,000 for a CPC. If you publish Gold, your book will be licenced for re-use, usually under a Creative Commons licence. Whilst most books that are published Gold involve the payment of a charge, there are consortium publishers that provide the opportunity for authors to publish Gold open access without paying a fee (also known as ‘diamond’ open access). 

If funds are not available, then it may be possible to publish open access via the Green route (also known as self-archiving) which involves depositing the accepted manuscript of your monograph or book chapter in an institutional repository (such as WIRE). The manuscript will be made open access after an embargo period set by the publisher. Not all publishers allow authors to make their long-form publications open access via this route, so you will need to check the publisher policy to see if this is permitted. 

Useful tools for checking publisher policies on open access books include:
Open Policy Finder 
Open Book Environment (OBE) Dashboard (provides information about publishers’ Green open access policies as well as costs for publishing Gold). 

Choosing a publisher

What sort of publisher would you like to publish your open access book? There are a range of options, from commercial publishers (e.g. Bloomsbury, Routledge, Springer Nature) to university presses (e.g. OUP, MIT Press), or scholar-led presses (e.g. Open Book Publishers and the ScholarLed consortium).

When deciding, consider things like the reputation of the publisher for publishing works in your field, rights and licencing, publishing costs, marketing, discoverability and preservation. Will potential readers be able to find your book easily? Will your book be preserved for the long-term or could it just disappear one day? If you’ve received funding for your research, will the publisher allow you to meet your open access obligations to your funder?  

If you’re an early career researcher or haven’t published an open access book before, beware of predatory publishers- they could damage your academic reputation, and all your hard work could be wasted. Think Check Submit is a helpful tool that will help you to assess whether or not a publisher is suitable for your research. 

Another good resource for choosing an open access publisher is the Directory of Open Access Books. As well as hosting open access books on its site, DOAB can help authors find trusted publishers for their work. You can browse the database for publishers vetted by DOAB which can help identify possible venues to publish. There are currently over 800 publishers listed on the site.

ECRs can publish through Trailblazers

If you’re an early career researcher at the University of Wolverhampton and you’d like to publish your first solo-authored monograph open access, then you may be interested in participating in Trailblazers. Created through a partnership between several universities and Liverpool University Press, the scheme offers selected participants a series of masterclasses to help them understand the publishing process and reach the widest possible audience for their work. As well as this, participants will benefit from a range of expert editorial support that will culminate in the publication of an open access edition of their work. 

Subject areas covered by Liverpool University Press can be viewed here.

If you are interested in applying for this scheme or would like more information, please contact the scholarly communications team: wire@wlv.ac.uk As there are a limited number of places on the scheme, please get in touch as soon as possible.

Make your work open!

Choosing to publish long-form outputs open access can bring many benefits to you as an author and for readers across the globe in terms of access and usage of scholarly content, so it’s worth thinking about it. Remember there are different routes to open access, so consider what will work best for you.  

If you have any questions about making monographs and book chapters open access, please contact the scholarly communications team: wire@wlv.ac.uk  

Additional resources

OA Books Toolkit provides lots of articles and guidance relating to publishing open access books.
Video on predatory publishers from the University of Cambridge library

Sarah Dar, Scholarly Communications Officer

Photo by Apoorv Sharma on Unsplash