Nur ein Forschungsthema? Open Access in der Buch-, Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft
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Online-Workshop am 09. Februar 2022
Wir wollen mehr Open Access wagen! Wege, Modelle und Services für die Politikwissenschaft Der Online-Workshop "Wir wollen mehr Open Access wagen! Wege, Modelle und Services für die Politikwissenschaft" findet am 9. Februar 2022 von 10:00 bis 14:30 Uhr statt. Veranstaltet wird er im Rahmen des BMBF-geförderten Projekts open-access.network gemeinsam vom Open-Access-Büro Berlin und dem Fachinformationsdienst Politikwissenschaft - Pollux . Ob Aufsatz, Buchpublikation oder die Veröffentlichung einer Dissertation - die Möglichkeiten im Open Access zu publizieren sind so breit aufgestellt wie die Politikwissenschaft selbst. Der Workshop soll darüber informieren, welche Möglichkeiten es gibt, die eigenen Publikationen in den Open Access zu überführen bzw. diese barriere-, kostenfrei und rechtssicher online zur Verfügung zu stellen. Was bedeutet es, ob als Professor*in oder Nachwuchswissenschaftler*in, im Open Access zu publizieren? Welche Beispiele und Angebote bieten Orientierungspunkte? Welche Bedarfe, Vorbehalte und Wünsche der Unterstützung gibt es? Gemeinsam blicken wir auf die Wege des Publizierens, die Chancen, aber auch die Herausforderungen des Publikationsprozesses. In zwei thematischen Blöcken möchten wir eine Möglichkeit zum Austausch für Wissenschaftler*innen und wissenschaftlich Publizierende in der Politikwissenschaft bieten. Jun.-Prof. Arndt Leininger , Ph.D. (Politikwissenschaftliche Forschungsmethoden, TU Chemnitz) und Dr. Philipp Schulz (Institut für Interkulturelle und Internationale Studien der Universität Bremen) gewähren Einblicke in Ihre Erfahrungen mit dem Thema Open Access. Praktische Umsetzbarkeit und Unterstützungsangebote werden vorgestellt sowie die Gelegenheit zum Netzwerkaufbau geboten. Um Anmeldung über unten stehendes Anmeldeformular wird gebeten. Zielgruppe Der Workshop richtet sich an Wissenschaftler*innen und Publizierende der Politikwissenschaft. Vorerfahrungen im Bereich Open Access sind nicht erforderlich. Agenda 9:45-10:00 Ankommen 10:00-10:20 Begrüßung & Warm-Up 10:20-10:30 Einführende Impulse 10:30-11:10 Open Access - Erfahrungsberichte (Jun.-Prof. Arndt Leininger, Ph.D., TU Chemnitz & Dr. Philipp Schulz, Uni Bremen) 11:10-11:40 Peer-to-Peer-Austausch 11:40-12:00 Alles was Recht ist (Dipl.-Wirt.Jur. Thomas Hartmann, LL.M., FIZ Karlsruhe) 12:00-12:10 Bewegte Pause mit Noemi 12:10-13:00 Pause 13:00-13:45 Open-Access-Publizieren - Wo & Wie? (Dr. Agathe Gebert, SSOAR & Stefanie Hanneken, transcript Open Library PoWi & Dr. Kurt Salentin, IJCV) 13:45-14:15 Ask the expert - Publikationswege 14:15-14:30 Wrap-Up & Feedback Veranstaltungsort Die Veranstaltung wird online in Zoom (bereitgestellt durch die Universität Bremen) stattfinden. Die Zugangsdaten erhalten Sie kurz vor der Veranstaltung via Email. Mit Ihrer Anmeldung stimmen Sie den Nutzungsbestimmungen von Zoom zu. Anmeldung geschlossen. Beiträge Impulse open-access.network & Einführung in Open Access (Linda Martin, open-access.network) Fachinformationsdienst Politikwissenschaft - Pollux (Regina Pfeifenberger, Pollux) Alles was (Urheber-)Recht ist (Dipl.-Wirt.Jur. Thomas Hartmann, LL.M., FIZ Karlsruhe) Publizieren Publizieren mit SSOAR (Dr. Agathe Gebert, SSOAR) Publizieren in der transcript Open Library Politik (Stefanie Hanneken, transcript) International Journal of Conflict & Violence (Dr. Kurt Salentin, Universität Bielefeld) Organisation Fachinformationsdienst Politikwissenschaft - Pollux Projekt open-access.network Open-Access-Büro Berlin...
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Open Access Books
Intro Open Access in 60 Sekunden Quelle: Brinken, H., Hauss, J. & Rücknagel, J. (2021). Open Access in 60 Sekunden, open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/50831 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) The key takeaways from this article are 1 Open access has developed into a highly dynamic field in the area of book publications in recent years. 2 As the publication landscape in the area of scholarly books is very heterogeneous, the established open access models for journals cannot simply be transferred. 3 An efficient infrastructure with various publication and funding options has now also developed in the area of open access books. A Dynamic Field Open access for books – this long-neglected topic has gained enormously in importance in recent years. Until well into the 2010s, the open access activities of research funders , libraries and authors focused mainly on the area of scholarly journals. However, the stakeholders in the scholarly publishing system have now also recognised the enormous potential of open access for books, and have initiated transformation measures ( Bargheer et al., 2017; Ferwerda et al., 2017; Stone & Marques, 2018 ). This is impressively demonstrated by the numerous studies and projects conducted at national and international level; by improved funding structures and new funding models ; and by dynamic initiatives, working groups, and discussion forums. open-access.network (2021) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Scholarly Books open-access.network (2026) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Monographs, Collections and Co. You can find a map of terms on open access and books here (in German). Book publications still play an important role, especially in the humanities and social sciences . The text-oriented disciplines favour the more extensive book format in the interests of long argument , where the theoretical approach must be comprehensively set out. Furthermore, the results of inter- and transdisciplinary research can be published only to a limited extent in the research report format possible in journal articles. Common types of scholarly books are monographs, edited collections, and conference proceedings. As a rule, scholarly books appear in different editions: as a digital publication, or e-book, and, in addition, as a print volume. They are published either in a series or as a single publication. Substantively and technologically, a large proportion of open access books are digital counterparts of print books. In addition to their content, they also usually contain navigation elements such as tables of contents and figures. However, providing the work in digital form enables in-depth content analysis through multiple apparatuses (footnotes, endnotes, critical editions), as well as enrichment through links to further stocks of knowledge, such as Wikipedia, specialised databases, or primary sources and digitisations. In addition, the e-book format allows the incorporation of research data, virtual research environments, and dynamic objects such as scripts, visualisations or software. What Are Open Access Books? A book is open access when access to the e-book is not restricted by licence or payment barriers, but rather it is available free of charge and re-usable in the long term immediately upon publication. Publishers of open access books can earn revenue through publication fees ( book processing charges, BPCs ) and the sale of the print edition ( dual publishing ), which is often produced using digital print-on-demand technology. Other publishers finance the basic costs of their open access segment via crowdfunding (e.g., Knowledge Unlatched, transformative agreements negotiated by consortia) or institutional memberships (e.g., Open Book Publishers [OBP], the Open Library of Humanities [OLH], Language Science Press). As in the case of open access journals , authors and editors of edited collections should not have to grant exclusive rights of use to the publishers or publication platforms. For licensing purposes, it is recommended to use an open Creative Commons licence , such as CC BY or CC BY-SA. Studies suggest that books published in open access gain a larger and more diverse readership ( Lucraft, 2021 ). Besides being made available in open access immediately upon publication ( gold open access ), books, too, can be self-archived in an open access repository ( green open access ; see Green and Gold ). Open Access Books in Specific Subjects Find out here how common open access books are in individual disciplines. Common Myths There are still some common myths about open access publishing. The Open Access Books Toolkit helps dispelling them. Open Access Helpdesk Our Open Access Helpdesk is happy to help with all questions open access. Serials Crisis and Monograph Crisis You Would Like to Know More About the History of Open Access? We have gathered the most important milestones for you here. The reasons why open access for books was neglected for many years date back to the beginnings of the open access movement . Sparked by the serials crisis in the 1990s, the movement emerged in the natural sciences, where book publications traditionally play at most a marginal role. It was only in the mid-2000s that the advent of a monograph crisis ( see Herb, 2015 ) precipitated by the serials crisis became the subject of increasing discussion. Rising book prices, gaps in the supply of scholarly literature in the libraries, and authors who during the publication process performed more and more tasks themselves yet still had to pay sometimes high publication cost subsidies: the problems of closed access now became evident in the area of scholarly books. Open Access Books Versus Open Access Journals Against the backdrop of the monograph crisis and the increasing establishment of open access in the area of scholarly journals, calls for open access in the humanities and social sciences also became louder. However, compared with scholarly journals, the publication landscape in the area of books has a number of particularities, the most important of which will be mentioned here (see also Snijder, 2019; Open Access Books Toolkit, 2020 ): In the humanities and in parts of the social sciences, an important role is played by small and medium-sized book publishers that are highly regarded in their specialist areas. Close relationships between authors and publishers are not uncommon. Both groups have in part adopted attitudes to open access that range from wait-and-see to critical, also because the participants in this setting find it harder to maintain the necessary competencies in the rapidly changing publishing landscape. For example, knowledge of the self-archiving rights of authors is sometimes lacking, and authors often have to negotiate with publishers to secure their rights to self-archive their works in a repository . In contrast to scholarly journals, print editions of books are of continuing importance despite generally declining sales figures, and are desired not least by the authors themselves. The dissemination channels and reception processes continue to be geared towards the processing of physical and fee-based objects. Not all books are alike: they range from unostentatious edited collections and conference proceedings, through elaborately designed several-hundred-page monographs, to experimental, multimedia-enriched publication projects. Submission, peer-review, and editorial processes are less standardised than in the area of journals. Especially in the German-speaking area, responsibility for quality assurance lies with editors or publishing house staff (editorial review). The costs of publishing open access books vary greatly. However, because of the larger size of the works, publishing costs are, as a rule, higher than those for articles in open access journals. Furthermore, certain book types, such as handbooks, lexica, or editions, require elaborate editorial processes that are factored in by the publishers. This does not mean, however, that open access books are less cost-efficient than open access journals. In the case of the high-priced open access journals of commercial publishers, the price per page is even several times higher than that of the overwhelming majority of book projects. All these factors make it clear that in order to develop their full potential, the models and tools developed for journals must be adapted to the specific requirements of open access books. This is true not least with a view to developing sustainable business models for small and medium-sized publishers (see also the international project Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs, COPIM ), building suitable publication infrastructures, and developing adequate funding instruments. Both the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG) have recently drawn up programmes to address these challenges (BMBF: Richtlinie zur Förderung von Projekten zur Beschleunigung der Transformation zu Open Access [Directive on the Promotion of Projects to Accelerate the Transformation to Open Access] , 2020; DFG: Funding Programme: Open Access Publication Funding , from 2021 onwards). open-access.network (2021) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access Journals Find an introduction here. Open Access and Research Funders Find an introduction here. Why is Open Access so Complicated with Books? The Open Access Books Toolkit explains how open access books and journals differ. Zukunftsmusik oder State of the Art – Experimentelle Formate für Bücher?" Bericht zur Erhebung" [Pipe Dream or State of the Art – Experimental Formats for Books?] The report summarises key results of a survey conducted within the framework of the project open-access.network. Services for Books Video zum Publizieren von Open-Access-Büchern Quelle: Stern, N. (2020). Publishing your book in Open Access?, open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/52108 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) Working Group Universitätsverlage Learn more about the members and principles of the working group on university publishers. ScholarLed Learn more about the members and principles of the ScholarLed initiative. Practical Tip Valuable information about community-led publication infrastructures for monographs – for example a report on resources, technical workflows, tools, and platforms – can be found on the website of the COPIM project. Although numerous challenges in transforming books to open access have yet to be mastered, authors already have a wide range of options when it comes to publishing an open access book. Many established publishers have incorporated open access models into their portfolios, and offer gold open access publications using CC licences. Publishers are often also willing to discuss the possibility of self-archiving a work in an open access repository after an embargo period (green open access). The fear frequently voiced by publishers that open access leads to serious shortfalls in the sales of print editions has been refuted in various studies ( Graf et al., 2020; Snijder, 2019; Collins & Milloy, 2016 ). Academic presses operated by universities or their libraries are an affordable and high-quality alternative to commercial publishers. The majority of the German-language university presses have joined together in the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Universitätsverlage (working group of the German-language university presses). They have collaboratively produced a variety of materials on publishing books in open access, including a paper on quality standards ( AG Universitätsverlage, 2018 ) that is also helpful when examining an open access offering and choosing a publisher. And finally, as in the case of journals, there are now a number of publishing initiatives founded by scholars and scientists (e.g., the consortium ScholarLed ). These initiatives are committed to fair open access and stand out because they demonstrate a high degree of transparency with regard to their business models ( see Nordhoff, 2018; Barnes & Gatti, 2020 ). Scholarly books are now increasingly published via institutional publishing platforms ( Open Monograph Press [OMP] , PubPub , Janeway ). These platforms do not use publishing house business models, but rather are funded as a common good, which entails specific challenges. Funding Possibilities In order to relieve the financial burden on authors and editors, many institutions now make specific funds available for open access books. Publication funds are also being established at federal state level in Germany. The DFG funding programme Open Access Publication Funding , which was established in 2021, grants institutions an allowance of up to 5,000 euros towards the costs of the open access publication of books resulting from DFG-funded projects. The same amount can be drawn down annually for book publications via project-related publication expenses within the framework of DFG project funding. In addition, DFG publication grants can be awarded for editions of primary texts and manuscript material as well as for works of exceptional scientific importance. For some time now, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) have had dedicated programmes in place for funding open access books. Via the Open Access Monograph Bursary for early career researchers in digital humanities launched by the EU Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH-EU) in 2021, up to 7,000 euros per book can be made available. Video zur Finanzierung von Open-Access-Monographien Quelle: Brinken, H. (2020). Finanzierung von Open-Access-Monographien, open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/49535 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) Finding Open Access Books Practical Tip Numerous search engines specialise in open access publications and provide free access to full texts There are also special search services for finding open access books. You can find an overview in our Practical Tip for finding open access literature (in German). Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) DOAB is the central data base for open access books, searchable by subject. Open access books are indexed at many locations and are often searchable in the usual databases and search engines. The Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) , which also enables a targeted search for books or book chapters, specialises in open access content. In addition, open access books can also be easily found via the popular search engines, for example, Google Scholar. An important role in relation to findability and visibility is played by the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) , the central database for open access books, which can be searched by subject, language, and publisher. The metadata of books indexed in DOAB are harvested for inclusion in diverse library catalogues. The combined online library and publication platform OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) as well as disciplinary repositories for the humanities and social sciences, such as media/rep/ and SSOAR , are suitable for searching for open access books. In addition, the discipline-specific pages on open-access.network offer an introduction. Conclusion and Outlook For decades, open access for books was systematically implemented only by a very small number of protagonists, and thus remained a peripheral phenomenon. Although these pioneers recognised the scientific potential of open access for book-friendly disciplines at an early stage, comprehensive practices, approaches, and providers were lacking. However, although there is still a need to catch up, the area of open access books is now highly dynamic: Extensive studies (e.g., in projects such as COPIM and OPERAS-P ) are being conducted, publication funds are being established or expanded, new business models are being developed, and new publishing projects are being initiated. Moreover, networks like the Open Access Books Network , ENABLE! , or the Focus Group Open Access Books are being founded; manuals are being produced and recommendations are being formulated ( see Adema, 2019; Godel et al., 2020 ); and information platforms, such as the Open Access Books Toolkit initiated by OAPEN, are being created. Further impulses for the transformation of scholarly books to open access are to be expected from the 20 projects to promote the acceleration of the transformation to open access that are being funded by the BMBF from 2021 onwards. Select Projects and Initiatives for Networking COPIM OPERAS-P Open Access Books Network ENABLE! Fokus Group "Open Access Books" Feel free to discuss developments in Open Access Books with experts. Focus Group "Open Access Monograph Funds" Feel free to discuss development in Open Access Monograph Funds with experts. References Adema, J. (2019). Towards a roadmap for open access monographs . Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3238545 Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Universitätsverlage. (2018). Qualitätsstandards für Open-Access-Monografien und -Sammelbände (Version 1). Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3562239 Bargheer, M., Dogan, Z. M., Horstmann, W., Mertens, M., & Rapp, A. (2017). Unlocking the digital potential of scholarly monographs in 21st century research. LIBER Quarterly , 27 (1), 194–211. http://doi.org/10.18352/lq.10174 Barnes, L. & Gatti, R. (2020, May 28). The cost of open access books: A publisher writes. Open Book Publishers. https://blogs.openbookpublishers.com/the-cost-of-open-access-books-a-publisher-writes/ Collins, E., & Milloy, C. (2016). OAPEN-UK final report: A five-year study into open access monograph publishing in the humanities and social sciences (p. 94). https://oapen.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com/7a65d73f1087444d80807833a320fa36.pdf Ferwerda, E., Pinter, F., & Stern, N. (2017). A landscape study on open access and monographs: Policies, funding and publishing in eight European countries . Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.815932 Godel, R., Herb, U., Hillenkötter, K., Holzer, Angela, Nordhoff, S., Schäffler, H., Siegert, O., & Arbeitsgruppe “Wissenschaftliches Publikationssystem” der Schwerpunktinitiative „Digitale Information“ der Allianz der deutschen Wissenschaftsorganisationen. (2020). Förderung wissenschaftlicher Buchpublikationen im Open Access (Open-Access-Bücher): Standards und Richtlinien für die Gestaltung infrastruktureller Rahmenbedingungen und die Vergabe von Fördermitteln durch wissenschaftliche Einrichtungen: Handreichung der AG Wissenschaftliches Publikationssystem im Rahmen der Schwerpunktinitiative „Digitale Information“ der Allianz der deutschen Wissenschaftsorganisationen . 13 p. https://doi.org/10.3249/ALLIANZOA.014 Graf, D., Fadeeva, Y., & Falkenstein-Feldhoff, K., (Eds.) (2020). Bücher im Open Access. Ein Zukunftsmodell für die Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften? Verlag Barbara Budrich. https://www.doi.org/10.17185/duepublico/72237 Herb, U. (2015). Open Science in der Soziologie: Eine interdisziplinäre Bestandsaufnahme zur offenen Wissenschaft und eine Untersuchung ihrer Verbreitung in der Soziologie. Schriften zur Informationswissenschaft 67. Verlag Werner Hülsbusch. https://doi.org/10.22028/D291-23737 Lucraft, M. (2021, March 3). Open Access to academic books creates larger, more diverse and more equitable readerships. LSE Impact Blog . https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2021/03/03/open-access-to-academic-books-creates-larger-more-diverse-and-more-equitable-readerships/ Nordhoff, S. (2018). Cookbook for open access books . Language Science Press. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1286925 Open Access Books Toolkit (2020, October 29). The difference between an open access book and an open access journal . https://oabooks-toolkit.org/the-oabooks-landscape/1323435-oa-books-vs-oa-journals;jsessionid=08F1DF2737084E6DAD2E12BE59C55FD0 Snijder, R. (2019). The deliverance of open access books. Examining usage and dissemination . Amsterdam University Press. https://www.doi.org/10.26530/OAPEN_1004809 Stone, G., & Marques, M. (2018). Knowledge Exchange survey on open access monographs . Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1475446 Further Reading Neylon, C., Ozaygen, A., Montgomery, L., Huang, C.-K. (Karl), Pyne, R., Lucraft, M., & Emery, C. (2021). More readers in more places: The benefits of open access for scholarly books. Insights , 34 (1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.558 Snijder, R. (2023). Measured in a context: making sense of open access book data. Insights the UKSG Journal , 36 , 20. https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.627 Taylor, M. (2020). An Altmetric Attention Advantage for Open Access Books in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Scientometrics , 125 (3), 2523–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03735-8 ....
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Open Access business models for books
Intro Finanzierung von Open-Access-Monographien Quelle: Brinken, H. (2020). Finanzierung von Open-Access-Monographien, open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/49535 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) The key takeaways from this article are 1 There are numerous business and funding models for open access books. 2 The individual models have specific advantages and disadvantages; some models can be combined with each other. 3 Besides book processing charges (BPCs), which are widely used in the German-speaking area, the parallel sale of print editions, the institutional funding of open access, and consortial models are of particular importance. Multifaceted Change Open access means free access to and reuse of scientific information. Because open access books are available to readers free of charge, the publication costs can no longer be covered by sales of the books, but rather must be financed through alternative business models. In recent years, the importance of open access has increased enormously in the humanities and social sciences. As a result, a variety of business and funding models for open access books have developed. Although there are both commonalities and differences between these models and the common models for open access journals, the models for open access books are by comparison more varied and more experimental. In practice, different approaches are often combined with each other. In what follows, the main funding models for open access books in the German-speaking area are briefly introduced. The overview draws on existing typologies with different degrees of complexity that can be highly recommended as further reading (Collins et al., 2015; Speicher et al., 2018; Penier et al., 2020). Moreover, for the selection presented here, the brief overview provided by the Open Access Books Toolkit (OAPEN, 2020) proved helpful. Open Access Books Find an introduction here. Practical Tip Useful tips for implementation can be found in the guide ‘How to Begin the OA Transition’ ( Estelle et al., 2025 ). Video zum Publizieren von Open-Access-Büchern Quelle: Stern, N. (2020). Publishing your book in Open Access?, open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/52108 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) Book Processing Charges (BPCs) Advantages BPCs enable the recognition and assumption of the costs associated with the publication of high-quality open access book publications. Because, for many years now, research funding organisations, foundations, and authors in the German speaking area have also funded conventional book publications via so-called printing cost allowances, the hurdle for paying BPCs is lower here than in other countries. Disadvantages The BPC model reinforces injustices in the academic system by giving an advantage to authors who work in secure positions at financially strong institutions or on well-resourced third-party-funded projects. Authors who work at less well-resourced institutions are disadvantaged, as are those who are not affiliated with an institution. At the international level, the model disadvantages authors in the Global South. Moreover, there is also criticism of the fact that commercial publishers do not clearly present their actual costs and services, which is why the reimbursement of BPCs is increasingly contingent upon compliance with standards relating to quality and transparency. Practical Tip Here you can find helpful recommendations and checklists on quality standards for OA books: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Universitätsverlage Nationaler Open-Access-Kontaktpunkt OGeSoMo Focus Group on Open Access Books Discuss current developments in OA books with other experts. Fokus Group on Open Access Monograph Funds Discuss the funding conditions and amounts of existing monograph funds with other experts. Publication fees for books, also known as book processing charges (BPCs), are levied by publishers to cover the costs that arise during the publication process. They are the counterparts of the well-known article processing charges (APCs) used in the journals area. The level of the BPCs varies from publisher to publisher; they range from a few hundred to several thousand euros. There are a number of reasons for this. First, the services and licensing options offered by the publishers differ, as do the books that are published. Second, differences in the costs and revenue structures of the publishers also play an important role. And finally, third, there are publishers who, besides their actual costs, also include estimates of lost sale proceeds in the calculation of BPCs. However, it is a matter of debate whether parallel open access publication has any effect at all on the sales figures of the printed edition. Various studies have shown that publishers’ fears of serious sales shortfalls are unfounded (Collins et al., 2015; Ferwerda et al., 2018; Snijder, 2019; Graf et al., 2020). Publication fees are very widespread in the case of open access books (see Penier et al., 2020, pp. 46–52). The model is used both by commercial publishers and by scholar-led publishers and university presses. As a rule, BPCs are paid by research funding organisations or by the authors’ institutions. By now, numerous institutions have established publication funds for this purpose – in Germany, often with support from the German Research Foundation (DFG). However, particularly authors who are not affiliated with an institution, or who work at financially weaker institutions, have to bear the costs themselves. Because BPCs are author-side fees, the model is also referred to as the author-pays model . Sale of Print Editions The parallel publication of digital and print editions of books, sometimes known as dual publishing, is a hybrid model whereby revenues are generated from sales of the print edition. These revenues do not usually completely replace the BPCs, but rather are intended merely to supplement them. In contrast to the journals area, the sale of books in printed form is still very widespread both in the case of commercial publishers and of scholar-led publishers and university presses. In the past, commercial publishers often relied on embargo periods and restrictive licensing models. However, also due to research funders’ requirements, a clear trend towards gold open access and Creative Commons (CC) licences is apparent. Advantages The sale of print editions (paperbacks, hardcover books) can be an important source of revenue for publishers. Thanks to digital technologies and lean distribution structures, the additional effort required for this has decreased noticeably in recent years. As long as there is still a corresponding demand on the part of libraries and readers, it makes sense for publishers to continue to offer scholarly books in printed form and to also use the existing channels of the book trade for this purpose. Disadvantages Despite the savings achieved by using procedures such as print on demand, the production and sale of print editions is associated with a certain level of costs and administrative effort. Should the demand for scholarly books in printed form (continue to) decline in the future, this model, too, will become less attractive. Research Funders and Open Access Find an introduction here. Institutional Support Advantages For institutions and their libraries, it may be expedient to invest part of the budgetary funds earmarked for financing (open access) publications in the establishment of their own publication services. In this way, they can grant their own (and possibly also other) researchers attractive conditions, use existing infrastructures and know-how, and enhance the reputation of their own institutions. Disadvantages In order to be able to offer authors and editors an attractive publishing environment, a considerable level of commitment is required. The institutional-support model can develop its full potential only if activities are long term and sustainable Association of European University Presses Click here to find out more about the AEUP. Within the framework of their promotion of open access, universities and non-university research organisations provide their own publication services for open access books. These can range from the creation of a repository or a publication platform to the operation of a university press. Institutional support can be provided on a financial, personnel, or infrastructural level. Libraries often play a key role in this regard. institutional support enables university presses either to keep BPCs low or to dispense with them completely. The fact that university presses operate on a non-profit basis also has a positive effect on pricing. The use of the services may be restricted to members of the university or be open also to researchers at other institutions. In particular, institutions in which the humanities and social sciences are strongly represented, now provide book publishing services of their own. The majority of German-language university presses have come together in the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Universitätsverlage (Consortium of University Presses). The most well known of these are Göttingen University Press , Heidelberg University Publishing , and KIT Scientific Publishing . Library Consortia Within the framework of library consortia, libraries pledge a fee towards making collections of books open access. These bundles, or packages, may either be thematically grouped or may relate to titles published by one or more publishers. As soon as enough libraries have agreed to participate, and the pledging target has been reached, a pre-agreed fee is paid to the publishers, and the books are then made available in open access. This revenue model is similar to the well-known crowdfunding models in other areas. In the present case, the crowd is made up of libraries. Consortial models are already widespread in the area of journals. For the humanities, the Open Library of Humanities’ (OLH) crowdfunding model is of particular importance. In the area of books, Knowledge Unlatched plays a pioneering role; as of November 2021, over 3,000 books had been unlatched – that is, made available in open access. Within the framework of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Guidelines for Promoting Projects to Accelerate the Transition to Open Access , several projects are currently being funded that are developing consortial models for book series (KOALA, OAdine, TOAA). At the international level, the project COPIM is working on the (further) development of alternative business models. Advantages Consortial models render it possible to dispense with BPCs and all their disadvantages. For this reason, they can be very attractive for authors. Moreover, they offer publishers a low-threshold way of converting their own programmes to open access. And finally, for the libraries, they can considerably reduce the processing efforts associated with the procurement of books. Disadvantages There is no guarantee that a sufficient number of libraries will always be found to raise enough money to unlatch a package of titles. Moreover, there is a danger that, in view of budget shortages, libraries will speculate that the pledging target will be reached without their participation (free rider problem). Moreover, commercially oriented models may cause libraries to be sceptical, and may contribute to their reticence. Other Models The models outlined above are merely a selection. Among the numerous other models, many of which have not been tested on a large scale, two should be mentioned at least briefly: the freemium model and the institutional membership model. Freemium Under the freemium model, a publisher or a service provider publishes one edition of a book open access without charging the authors a publication fee. This open access publication is financed via other revenue sources – for example, from the sale of digital editions with additional functionalities and in other formats (enhanced HTML, EPUB/Mobi, etc.). Although some publishers and platforms, such as OpenEdition und Open Book Publishers, are already successfully using the model, it remains to be seen whether it will prove its worth. Institutional Memberships Institutional memberships are another model that can be used to fund open access books. Often within the framework of consortial agreements, libraries and other institutions pay an annual membership fee to a publisher, who in turn assumes part of the costs of publishing books. Moreover, member institutions and their authors can obtain further discounts. The model is widespread especially in the area of journals, but it is also used by scholarly book publishers, such as Open Book Publishers and Punctum Books, and it can make an important contribution to the simplification and debureaucratisation of open access publishing. References Collins, E., Milloy, C., & Stone, G. (2015). Guide to open access monograph publishing for arts, humanities and social science researchers. Helping researchers to understand the opportunities and challenges of publishing a scholarly monograph in open access. AHRC/Jisc Collections. eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/25391/ http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/25391/1/Guide-to-open-access-monograph-publishing-for-researchers-final.pdf Estelle, L., Jago, D., Jones, R., Laakso, M., Snijder, R., & Wise, A. (2025). How to begin the OA transition: a guide for smaller and specialist publishers. Commissioned by UKRI, in partnership with the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the British Academy, and Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA) . Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14679094 Ferwerda, E., Snijder, R., Arpagaus, B., Graf, R., Krämer, D., & Moser, E. (2018). OAPEN-CH - Auswirkungen von Open Access auf wissenschaftliche Monographien in der Schweiz. Ein Projekt des Schweizerischen Nationalfonds . Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1219172 Graf, D., Fadeeva, Y., & Falkenstein-Feldhoff, K. (Eds.). (2020). Bücher im Open Access: Ein Zukunftsmodell für die Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften? Verlag Barbara Budrich. https://doi.org/10.17185/DUEPUBLICO/72237 OAPEN. (2020). Open Access Books Toolkit: Business models for open access book publishing . https://oabooks-toolkit.org/lifecycle/10944589-planning-funding/article/10432084-business-models-for-open-access-book-publishing Penier, I., Eve, M. P., & Grady, T. (2020). COPIM – Revenue Models for Open Access Monographs 2020 . Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4011836 Snijder, R. (2019). The deliverance of open access books : Examining usage and dissemination . Amsterdam University Press. https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/25287 Speicher, L., Armando, L., Bargheer, M., Eve, P. M., Fund, S., Leão, D., Mosterd, M., Pinter, F., & Souyioultzoglou, I. (2018). OPERAS Open Access Business Models [White Paper] . Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1323708 Further Reading Arning, U., Bargheer, M., Meinecke, I., Schobert, D., & Tobias, R. (2022). Open-Access-Transformation für Bücher: Die Rolle von institutionellen Verlagen und Publikationsdiensten . Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6346234 Barnes, L., & Gatti, R. (2018, May 22). The cost of Open Access books: a publisher writes. Open Book Publishers . blogs.openbookpublishers.com/the-cost-of-open-access-books-a-publisher-writes/ Böhm, D., Grossmann, A., Reiche, M. & Schrader, A. (2020). Open-Access-Publikationsworkflow für akademische Bücher. Ein Handbuch für Hochschulen und Universitäten. http://doi.org/10.33968/9783966270175-00 Hanneken et al. (2020). Die transcript OPEN Library Politikwissenschaften. Ein Modell für Open-Access-eBooks in den Geistes- & Sozialwissenschaften . https://doi.org/10.11588/ip.2020.1.66637 Pinter, F. (2018). Why Book Processing Charges (BPCs) Vary So Much. JEP. the Journal of Electronic Publishing , 21 (1). https://doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0021.101 Springer Open. (2018). Guide to Open Access Books for SpringerOpen Authors . https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-cms-preview/rest/v1/content/16216776/data/v2 van Gerven Oei, V. W. J., Joy, E., & Rudmann, D. (2020, July 7). We Got the Receipts: The Punctum Books Financial and Activity Report 2016–2019 . Punctum Books. https://punctumbooks.pubpub.org/pub/punctum-books-financial-activity-report-2016-2019/release/5...
