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Open Access

An introduction to open access, how researchers can make their work open access, and support for open access at the University Libraries at Virginia Tech.

About Open Access Books

Open access books can be challenging to publish due to the costs involved in publishing a book, but the good news is that OA models are emerging.  Some presses have a book processing charge (BPC), the equivalent of an article processing charge for OA journals.  However, BPCs are high and require some kind of subvention. 

The provost's office offers subventions to support the publication of books by Virginia Tech faculty even if they are not made open access.  In addition, Virginia Tech's University Libraries supports Knowledge Unlatched, which works with a number of scholarly publishers and does not require book authors to find funding.

Did you write a book chapter you would like to make OA?  Check your publishing agreement, or this list of Book Chapter Archiving Permissions.  Additionally, you may consider your chapter a "scholarly article" which can therefore be deposited in VTechWorks under Virginia Tech's open access policy.

Do you have a previously published book you would like to make OA?  Many book contracts contain a rights reversion clause.  Learn all about rights reversion from the Author's Alliance.

Do you want to create an open textbook? See Virginia Tech's guide to authoring open educational resources.

Publishers of OA Books

More Information