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An open-access monograph (open-access book or OA book) is a scholarly publication usually made openly available online with an open license.[1][2] These books are freely accessible to the public, typically via the internet. They are part of the open access movement.[3]
Open access is when academic research is made freely available online for anyone to read and re-use.[4] As with open access journals, there are different business models for funding open-access books, including publication charges, institutional support, library publishing, and consortium models.[5] Some publishers, like OECD Publishing, uses a freemium model where the ebook version is made available for free, but readers have the option to purchase a print copy. Sales of the print version subsidise the cost of producing the book.[5] There is some evidence that making electronic editions of books open access can increase sales of the print edition.[6]
While open access to journal articles has become very common, with 50% of articles published in 2011 available as open access,[7] open access to books has not yet seen as much uptake at this time.[8] However, some dedicated open-access book publishers, such as Open Book Publishers, Punctum Books, and others who publish both books and journals like Open Humanities Press,[9] have been launched.
Gradually, academic publishers and university presses have also adopted an open-access monograph approach, offering this publishing option alongside journal articles. Major publishers of open-access books include, for example, Taylor & Francis,[10] MDPI,[11] and MIT Press.[12] The OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) online library and publication platform provides access to thousands of peer-reviewed academic books, mainly in the humanities and social sciences. The OAPEN Foundation[13] also provides a directory of open access works via Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB).[14]
A report released in 2015 by the UK's main funding body for research, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, states the importance of open access monographs:[15] "Monographs are a vitally important and distinctive vehicle for research communication, and must be sustained in any moves to open access."[16] A 2019 survey has shown that a majority of authors agree that all future scholarly books should be made available via open access.[17] A 2023 study found that, out of 396,995 open access books analyzed, only 19% were archived, raising concerns about the longevity and accessibility of many OA books distributed online.[18]
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