Open Access for Monographs: Context
Answer
What is an Open Access monograph?
An Open Access (OA) monograph is an academic book focusing on a specific subject or research question, which is free to read online with no price and permission barriers. Please see Open Access for monographs: Introduction for an introduction to monographs generally, and current funder Open Access policies for monographs.
Current context
Open Access requirements have existed for short-form research outputs like journal articles since 2012, however the pace of developments to encourage Open Access for longform outputs has been much slower. Recent years have seen an increase in momentum, including engagement from research funders: UKRI updated its Open Access policy to include monographs and book chapters in 2024, aligning with the established mandate of The Wellcome Trust.
Following sector consultation, monographs will not be brought in scope of the next REF exercise. This means there will be no Open Access requirement for longform outputs for REF 2029. Rather, making monographs OA is likely to be encouraged and evidenced within the ‘People, Culture and Environment’ element of REF submissions.
Barriers to Open Access for longform outputs
The immaturity of Open Access business models and publishing processes for monographs represents a significant barrier to widespread engagement with openness for this output type.
Business models based on Book Processing Charges (BPCs) are often characterised by unaffordable and unsustainable pricing, presenting challenges for funders, libraries and publishers alike. The same could be said of Article Processing Charges (APCs) for short-form outputs, and there is a strong desire across the sector to avoid embedding business models which have proven to be costly and inadequate to secure wholesale transformation of publishing towards openness. In March 2024, Jisc released a full report on the effectiveness of the current Transitional Agreement model.
BPCs are also perceived as a threat to bibliodiversity, with prohibitive costs risking entrenching underrepresentation of outputs from early career researchers, independent researchers and those from the global majority.
A range of more innovative models have emerged and are under active exploration. Consensus has not yet been reached as to optimum model/s that will provide a sustainable means of achieving Open Access for monographs, and which institutions are therefore willing to commit to and fund.
Exploring alternative models for Open Access monographs
The University of Manchester Library actively supports a number of Diamond OA monograph schemes – see Community-led infrastructure [KB article].
Principles and practices for acquisition of OA monographs
Despite the slow pace of progress and challenges to embedding Open Access for monographs, The University of Manchester Library has actively supported Manchester authors to publish their longform outputs Open Access in a number of ways since 2016:
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We’ve supported authors funded by The Wellcome Trust to access funds to cover BPCs when monographs have been the main output arising from funded research projects
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We’ve run an annual Open Access monograph competition for unfunded authors since 2020, funding the Open Access publication of 24 books to date
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As mentioned above, we participate in a number of pilot schemes exploring alternative, non-BPC-based business models for monographs. See Community-led infrastructure [KB article]
We’ve applied this experience, and our evaluation of these pilot schemes, to develop a set of acquisition principles and practices for Open Access monographs. These are grouped into four themes:
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Sustainability
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Social responsibility
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Equity
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Transparency
These agreed principles and practices represent a strategic framework to inform Library decision-making on commitments to future Open Access monograph schemes, pilots and initiatives.
You can access the Strategic framework for the acquisition of open access monographs via the University’s document store.
Further support
Need any help? You can find more articles about other Open Access-related topics or get in touch with the team.