Open access book publishing is now required by some funders like UKRI.
There are several ways to publish your longform outputs open access.
Gold route
It is possible to publish a monograph as gold open access usually on payment of a Book Processing Charge (BPC) to the publisher. Fees can vary greatly ranging from £5,000 to £10,000 plus VAT.
Some publishers will sell hard or paperback copies of your monograph via print-on-demand as well as publishing an electronic open access version. Typically you will continue to receive royalties on print and eBook sales but you should discuss this your editor.
Green route
This involves placing the Author’s Accepted Manuscript (AAM) rather than the final version of record into an open access repository, often after an embargo period, while the VoR is uploaded into the publisher’s own website. Often the publisher will only allow a part / chapter of a book to be uploaded into a repository. You should check your funder’s requirements before choosing this route in case an embargo period does not comply with the funder. The Open Research Team can advise on this.
In January 2024, the UKRI Open Access Policy was updated and it now extends to monographs, book chapters and edited collections as well as journal articles and conference proceedings. It requires Open Access no later than 12 months after publication for monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1st January 2024 and resulting from a grant from one of the UK Research councils. There are some exemptions allowed listed in Annex 3 of the UKRI OA policy.
UKRI have provided guidance on making your monograph, book chapter or edited collection Open Access.
In summary the core requirements of the policy are:
your final Version of Record or Author’s Accepted Manuscript must be free to view and download via an online publication platform, publisher’s website, or institutional or subject repository within a maximum of 12 months of publication
images, illustrations, tables and other supporting content should be included in the open access version, where possible
the open access version of your publication must have a Creative Commons licence, with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence preferred. An Open Government Licence is also permitted. (This requirement does not apply to third party materials included in your publication)
Funding to cover Book Processing Charges (BPCs) will be available from UKRI. This is a two-stage process, with application by UEA's Open Research team to UKRI (not directly by the author/s). Note that UKRI has set caps on the amount of funding that they will make available for different types of output. If you're an author of an in-scope long-form publication, please contact openresearch@uea.ac.uk to discuss your options.
UEA Library is investigating alternative models to Gold open access for publishing open access monographs, including membership or crowd funding models. Current initiatives that we are supporting are:
Open Book Publishers (OBP)
Open Book Publishers is a non-profit publisher of OA monographs, run by academics in Humanities and Social Sciences in Cambridge and London and committed to making high-quality research freely available to all. OBP titles are made open access immediately at no cost to the author. UEA Library’s membership supports the publication of the research monographs and the release of open source software to enable more presses to publish OA books. Membership gives UEA Library users the option to permanently download OBP ebooks and the Library can purchase printed editions at a discounted price. A full list of titles is available in their catalogue. If you are interested in publishing with OBP, please refer to their page for new authors.
Knowledge Unlatched
Knowledge Unlatched offers free access to scholarly content. By libraries jointly pledging funds specific publisher print collections are then “unlatched” and made open access worldwide. The content is chosen by an advisory board of worldwide Librarians. UEA library is supporting the opening up of titles in Climate change and Sustainable Development Goals. Knowledge Unlatched OA titles are hosted on OAPEN and records added into Library Search.
Bloomsbury Open Collections
UEA Library has pledged funds to support Bloomsbury in making up to 60 monographs available open access immediately on publication (at no cost to the author) in the following subject areas: African Studies & International Development, Environment & Climate Change and Gender& Sexuality. The books will be published between March 2025 and February 2026. When selecting the titles to make Open Access, Bloomsbury are prioritising authors from low- and middle-income countries, unaffiliated authors, and early-career researchers.
Taylor and Francis Pledge to Open Pilot UEA Library has contributed funds to a collaborative pilot scheme from Taylor and Francis, ‘Pledge to Open’, that aims to open access publish up to 10 cutting edge research titles in each of the following sustainable development goals subject areas: Climate Change, Green Renewable Energy and Race & Racism. The scheme is designed to ensure open access book content is free to read and free to publish for the author and increase participation for a wider international audience.
