List of open access monograph publishers
Exploring your options for making books and chapters open access
Last updated October 2024 by the Scholarly Communications Team, University of Sheffield Library
This list has been developed to support University of Sheffield researchers in exploring different options for publishing their monographs open access. It is a non-exhaustive list of publishers, some of which charge mandatory Book Processing Charges (BPCs) and others which use alternative funding models (eg. library memberships), or charge optional BPCs if funding is available.
The University of Sheffield Institutional Open Access Fund can be used for monographs published with fully open access publishers charging reasonable BPCs (£8000 + VAT or less). You are welcome to apply to the fund if you are publishing with any of the publishers in List 1.
UKRI funded authors (including PhD students) are able to apply for funding of up to £10,000 per book and £1000 per chapter (including VAT) in order to help them comply with the open access policy. More information can be found in our UKRI open access policy guidance.
Researchers may find the Open Book Environment (OBE) Dashboard useful. Developed by librarians in the UK and USA, OBE Dashboard aggregates information about costs associated with OA monograph publishing and publisher self-archiving policies for books and chapters.
White Rose University Press
White Rose University Press is a non-profit, open access publisher of academic books and journals which is jointly run by the Universities of Sheffield, Leeds and York. A waiver fund is available to support University of Sheffield researchers with some or all of the open access costs. The fund is limited and applications are considered as they are received. More information is available on the WRUP website.
List 1: Fully open access publishers
- Aberdeen University Press
- African Minds
- Australian National University (ANU) Press
- Cardiff University Press (one co-author must be affiliated to Cardiff University)
- Coventry Open Press
- Erratum Press: Academic Division
- Helsinki University Press
- Lever Press
- LSE Press
- Mattering Press
- Mayfly Books
- Media Studies Press
- Meson Press
- Open Book Publishers
- Open Humanities Press
- Punctum Books
- Scottish Universities Press (now open to authors from all UK HEIs)
- Stockholm University Press
- Ubiquity Press
- UCL Press
- University of Huddersfield Press
- University of London Press (small number of books published non-OA)
- University of Westminster Press
- Winchester University Press
List 2: Open access initiatives from hybrid publishers
There are many monograph publishers that are not fully open access but which are experimenting with models to reduce the cost of BPCs or not charge BPCs at all. The list below gives examples of traditional publishers who have adopted innovative open access models and policies. University of Sheffield financially supports many of these publishers through contributing to library membership schemes.
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Charges Book Processing Charges for immediate open access and allows no-embargo deposit for the full author accepted manuscript. |
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| Cambridge University Press | Commitment to making 100 titles open access once they have made a set amount in sales revenue ('Flip it Open' scheme) |
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25 frontlist titles per year funded through Opening the Future model, if other sources of funding not available |
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“Green Open Access publisher.” VoR can be made available in a repository after 18 months. Subventions required to make it available earlier. |
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Authors eligible to apply for ⅓ discount on BPC through the “KU fund for fair OA”. Some titles published open access through library memberships. |
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| Liverpool University Press | Some new titles published open access under an ‘Opening the Future’ model |
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Luminos (University of California Press open access programme) |
Open access costs are reduced through library memberships |
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From 2022, all new scholarly books published open access through the ‘Direct to Open’ model |
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| Sidestone Press | All books made open access after four years. Charges low Book Processing Charges for open access immediately on publication or after one year |
| University of Michigan Press | A proportion of books made open access with no mandatory author fees, although a contribution to costs is requested. If books are published non-OA, the whole author accepted manuscript can be made available after a 12 month embargo. |
| White Horse Press | Transitioning to a fully open access model. Some titles published open access as part of Open Book Collective |
Traditional monograph publishers (eg. Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature, Oxford University Press) often also offer an open access route. These charges are likely to be high, and we are currently unable to fund them through the Institutional Open Access Fund. Funded researchers planning to apply to the UKRI central monograph fund should check the cost of a Book Processing Charge at an early stage in the process.
If you have any questions about this list, please contact oaenquiries@sheffield.ac.uk