Transforming Monograph (Academic Book) Publishing
In the pursuit of providing open access to academic books, the Library is supporting new approaches to publishing. Often through a membership model, the Library agrees to fund publishers to make new titles published open access, enabling readership to be open to everyone.
Moving towards Open Access Monographs
Traditional academic book publishing relies on sales to generate revenue. This is then used to cover the cost of publishing (editorial, typesetting, printing, marketing), to fund future development, and - in the case of commercial publishers - to make a profit to be paid out to investors.
Many academic books have very small print runs and are priced very highly with the understanding that only university libraries have the money to buy them. This pricing is carried over to ebooks. Therefore, the publication of these books is reliant on a small group of academic libraries continuing to purchase them. This approach means that only staff and students of this narrow group of (often elite) institutions are able to access the content.
In the pursuit of open access to academic books new approaches are needed, and these are what the Library supports. Many of these approaches are based on various membership models. Rather than funding academic publishing through book purchases, the Library agrees - through its membership - to fund the publishers to make new publications open access, allowing readership to be open to everyone. This approach also keeps all the money in the publishing ecosystem, ensuring that it is not lost to dividends. By detaching them from commercial imperatives, this membership model also gives greater editorial freedom to the publisher.
Our ability to support changes towards open access publishing are enabled by several large organisations, such as Open Book Collective and Jisc, who back major initiatives within the education sector.
Major Initiatives in Transforming Publishing
African Minds (OBC)
African Minds is based in South Africa, with authors who are predominantly African Academics. African Minds offers a new publishing channel to authors frustrated by a lack of support from traditional book publishers.
ARC Humanities Press - Future Perfect New Voices Awards
Future Perfect New Voices is an attempt to build a sustainable, research-led monograph program for the future. Libraries commit funding that allows the ARC Humanities Press to seek submissions for, and allows their participants to vote in, the Future Perfect New Voices Awards Program , and to publish open access monographs.
Bloomsbury Open Collections
Currently in its pilot stages, Bloomsbury’s OA model will spread the cost of publication in order to give authors a chance to share their collections with a wider audience. It currently aims to make 20 research titles available.
Central European University Press - Opening the Future
Via the Opening the Future model the Library buys access to backlist packages of ebooks and the publisher commits to using the funds to make future (front list) titles open access. We have access to the History Collection from CEUP.
De Gruyter - Purchase to Open
Purchase to Open is another crowdfunding model where collections will be published open access if funding targets are hit. We are supporting the publication of classical studies, business & economics, and linguistics collections.
Liverpool University Press - Opening the Future
Liverpool University Press also uses the Opening the Future model. We have access to the Hispanic Studies (Modern Languages) Package from LUP.
Mattering Press (OBC)
Mattering Press is a Diamond OA publisher focused on making high-quality content freely available in Science and Technology Studies. As it is a UK-based charity, funds are used for the production of new content.
Media Studies Press (OBC)
Media Studies Press publishes books on the subjects of media, communication, and film studies. They do not enforce any author fees for their works and they are free to access, with a focus on scholarly writing and reading.
MIT Press - Direct to Open (D20)
D2O is a bold attempt by MIT Press to make all MIT Press scholarly monographs and edited collections open access. Under this model, ninety titles will be made available each year. This was successfully achieved with a pilot in 2022, which the Library helped to fund. We are now committed to further funding, initially pledging our support between 2022-2025. As part of this initiative we also subsidise the costs of these titles’ print publication, and have provided our users with access to the MIT Press’s backlist of c.2300 titles.
Open Book Publishers (OBC) - Library Supporter
Open Book Publishers is run by non-profit academics in Cambridge and London. It aims to make high-quality research freely available to readers around the world. Our membership supports Open Book Publishers’ commitment by funding the publication of over 40 scholarly research monographs each year.
Peter Lang – Greenlight
Greenlight is a “collective purchase model”, similar to subscribing to an open model. Libraries commit to its funding and if their targets are met by the publisher, the titles will flip to open access. However, if targets are not met, libraries will retain ‘closed’ access to their users.
Punctum Books (OBC) - Library Supporter
Punctum is an independent queer- and scholar-led Sparkly Diamond open-access (OA) publisher. We pay a supporter membership to allow them to publish in line with their principles. This community-led, disruptive model is a marked alternative to publishers that must publish to the (conservative) forces of the market.
Sidestone Press - Library Programme
We support the Sidestone Press and its commitment to Open Science through an annual membership. This allows all Sidestone books to be published open access.
Ubiquity Press - OA Membership
Our OA Membership provides financial support for the development and maintenance of Ubiquity Press’s platform. There is also a focus on subsidising hosting for the developing world and covering waivers for authors without funding.
University of London Press - Human Rights & Social Justice (Jisc OACF)
The University of London Press’s on-going OA series comprises several highly valued human rights and social justice publications. It includes Reimagining Law and Justice, which focuses on the challenges within legal studies, and the Human Rights Consortium, which shows the differences in, and need for, human rights around the world.
University of London Press - New Historical Perspective (Jisc OACF)
The main aim of University of London Press is to support sustainable and affordable open access publishing. Its three-year funding plan is designed to develop the needs of the series and of any authors wishing to join, with a particular emphasis on providing support to Early Career Researchers during the publishing process.
University of Michigan Press - Fund to Mission
Fund to Mission aims to convert at least 75% of its monographs to open access by the end of 2023, without any author needing to pay for it. They do this by selling their backlist ebook packages to libraries and using the funds to convert an increasing number of titles to open access.
University of Westminster: Critical, Digital and Social Media Studies Series (Jisc OACF)
This is a book series published by the University of Westminster Press, which focuses on topics relating to the internet, digital and social media. They are published online, and do not require any process fees from authors.
University of Westminster: Cultural China (Jisc OACF)
The University of Westminster’s initiative is focused on publications about Chinese and Sinophone languages, cultural practices, and politics. Cultural China promotes wider global understanding by sharing collections on Chinese cultural practices and politics.
White Horse Press (OBC)
The White Horse Press is a family-owned value-focused partnership starting to transition to open access. It publishes environment, history, and society books and journals. From 2022 they hope to publish only OA books whilst expanding the number of books being published.