List of open access monograph publishers
Exploring your options for making books and chapters open access
Last updated June 2025 by the Scholarly Communications Team, University of Sheffield Library
This list has been developed to support University of Sheffield researchers in exploring different options for publishing their monographs open access. It is a non-exhaustive list of publishers, some of which charge mandatory Book Processing Charges (BPCs) and others which use alternative funding models (eg. library memberships), or charge optional BPCs if funding is available.
The University of Sheffield Institutional Open Access Fund can be used for monographs published with fully open access publishers charging reasonable BPCs (£8000 + VAT or less). You are welcome to apply to the fund if you are publishing with White Rose University Press, or any of the publishers in List 1 or 2.
UKRI funded authors (including PhD students) are able to to the UKRI central monographs fund in order to help them comply with the open access policy. There is no restriction on type of publisher, but there is a cap of £10,000 per book and £1000 per chapter (including VAT). More information can be found in our UKRI open access policy guidance.
White Rose University Press
White Rose University Press is a non-profit, open access publisher of academic books and journals which is jointly run by the Universities of Sheffield, Leeds and York. A waiver fund is available to support University of Sheffield researchers with some or all of the open access costs. The fund is limited and applications are considered as they are received. More information is available on the WRUP website.
List 1: diamond open access publishers (no mandatory BPC is charged)
Non-mandatory BPCs are eligible to be covered by the Institutional Open Access Fund for these publishers.
- Aberdeen University Press
- Amherst College Press
- Applied Linguistics Press
- Erratum Press: Academic Division
- Lever Press
- Mayfly Books
- mediastudies.press
- Open Book Publishers
- Open Humanities Press
- punctum books
- Winchester University Press
List 2: fully gold open access publishers (BPC is charged in most cases)
Book processing charges are eligible to be covered by the Institutional Open Access Fund for these publishers. If you are not eligible for the University of Sheffield Institutional Open Access Fund, you may still in some cases be able to publish without the payment of a BPC. Please check individual publisher websites for details of waiver schemes.
- African Minds
- Australian National University (ANU) Press
- Cardiff University Press (one co-author must be affiliated to Cardiff University)
- Helsinki University Press
- LSE Press
- Mattering Press
- Meson Press
- Scottish Universities Press
- Stockholm University Press
- Ubiquity Press
- UCL Press
- University of Huddersfield Press
- University of London Press (core OA series published under a diamond model)
- University of Westminster Press
Please note, books published with IntechOpen are not currently eligible for funding from the Institutional Open Access Fund.
List 3: Open access initiatives from hybrid publishers
These hybrid publishers have adopted innovative models and initiatives to make at least a proportion of their titles open access with reduced or no reliance on BPCs. Please contact the publisher to ask about open access options. We support many of these open initiative through library memberships.
| Amsterdam University Press | Allows the full author accepted manuscript of the book to be shared via a repository with no embargo |
| Arc Humanities Press | Some titles published open access through Open Book Collective |
| Cambridge University Press | Commitment to making 100 titles open access once they have made a set amount in sales revenue ('Flip it Open' scheme) |
| Central European University Press | 25 frontlist titles per year funded through Opening the Future model, if other sources of funding not available |
| Goldsmiths Press | Allows the Version of Record to be shared via a repository after 18 months, or earlier if a subvention is paid |
| Leuven University Press | Authors eligible to apply for ⅓ discount on BPC through the “KU fund for fair OA”. Some titles published open access through library memberships. |
| Liverpool University Press | Some new titles published open access under an ‘Opening the Future’ model |
| Luminos (University of California Press open access programme) | Open access costs are reduced through library memberships |
| MIT Press | From 2022, all new scholarly books published open access through the ‘Direct to Open’ model |
| Sidestone Press | All books made open access after four years. Charges low Book Processing Charges for open access immediately on publication or after one year (may be eligible for funding from Institutional Open Access Fund) |
| University of Michigan Press | A proportion of books made open access with no mandatory author fees, although a contribution to costs is requested. If books are published non-OA, the whole author accepted manuscript can be made available after a 12 month embargo. |
| Verlag Barbara Budrich | Some new titles published open access via Open Book Collective |
| White Horse Press | Transitioning to a fully open access model via Open Book Collective |
Traditional monograph publishers (eg. Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature, Oxford University Press) often also offer an open access route. These charges are likely to be high, and we are currently unable to fund them through the Institutional Open Access Fund. Funded researchers planning to apply to the UKRI central monograph fund should check the cost of a Book Processing Charge at an early stage in the process.
If you have any questions about this list, please contact oaenquiries@sheffield.ac.uk