An open-access monograph (open-access book or OA books) 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]

Concept

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]

History

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]