Open Access: OA Books
Open Access Books About Open Access!
by Peter Suber
by Lexi Rubow, Rachael Shen, Brianna Schofield, and the Samuelson Clinic
Open Access and the Humanities
by Martin Paul Eve
The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship
by John Willinsky
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.
Virginia Tech is one of several U.S. institutions participating in TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem), which will support faculty publication of open access monographs by major university presses. See the latest update (Feb. 2021) for more information, and contact Peter Potter, Director of Publishing Services in the University Libraries, if interested. (The provost's office also 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.
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
- List of OA Book PublishersAn extensive list of OA book publishers from the OA Directory.
- Virginia Tech PublishingPublisher of OA books and open textbooks, based in the University Libraries.
- LuminosSponsored by the University of California Press.
- Lever PressSponsored by a consortium of liberal arts institutions.
OA Book Publishing Initiatives
- TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)Sponsored by Association of American Universities, Association of Research Libraries, and Association of University Presses.
- Sustainable History Monograph PilotLed by the University of North Carolina Press.
More Information
- Open Access Books NetworkInformation and discussion about OA books.
- OA Books ToolkitGeneral information from OAPEN, a European organization
- The State of Open Monographs (PDF)A 2019 report from Digital Science.
- Guide to Open Access Monograph Publishing for Arts, Humanities, and Social Science Researchers (PDF)Written in 2015 from a UK perspective, but useful to all interested in OA monographs.
- Guide to Creative Commons for Humanities and Social Science Monograph Authors (PDF)This 2013 report addresses concerns from authors about Creative Commons licenses.
- The Academic Book of the FutureA 2016 open access book about where academic books might be headed, with considerable reference to open access.
- The Future of the Monograph in the Digital EraA 2015 report to the Mellon Foundation by a working group at Emory University.
- An Altmetric Attention Advantage for Open Access Books in the Humanities and Social SciencesA 2020 study to explore the impact that open access has on monograph usage, focusing particularly on social media.
- Diversifying Readership through Open Access: A Usage Analysis for OA BooksThis 2020 report analyzes whether OA facilitates the take-up of books by countries that are traditionally underrepresented in the production and use of scholarly content.
- The Costs of Publishing Monographs: Toward a Transparent MethodologyThis 2016 study represents the most in-depth effort to date to calculate the costs associated with scholarly monograph publishing.
- Developing a Pilot Data Trust for Open Access Ebook UsageThis 2-year pilot project (2020-2021) will develop and test infrastructure, policy, and governance models to support a diverse, global data trust for usage data on OA monographs.
- Growth in Open Access BooksAn update from Delta Think in July 2021.
- More readers in more places: the benefits of open access for scholarly booksA 2021 study of usage patterns across OA books and non-OA books.
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