Research Publishing (Open Access)

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) announced its new open access policy in August 2021. The updated policy can be found at: UKRI Policy Updated May 23. The policy applies to:

• peer-reviewed research articles submitted for publication from 1 April 2022
• monographs, book chapters and edited collections published from 1 January 2024.

and requires that these are to be made open access within 12 months of publication.

There are two routes you can use to make your research open access

1. publish the article open access in a journal or publishing platform which makes the Version of Record immediately open access via its website with a CC BY or other permitted licence. 
2. publish the article in a subscription journal and deposit your Author’s Accepted Manuscript in an institutional or subject repository at the time of publication with a CC BY or other permitted licence. A publisher embargo period is not permitted.

UKRI Open Access Funding for Monographs, Book Chapters and Edited Collections

From January 2024 approximately £3.5 million will be dedicated to supporting open access for long-form outputs via a separate ring-fenced fund. The fund will be centrally held by UKRI, and research organisations will apply to UKRI to access it.

The fund aims to:

• support open access for the version of record of longform outputs that are in scope of the UKRI open access policy
• seek affordability and support sustainability to achieve open access
• support a diverse range of research organisations

Applications to the fund will be via a staged application process where:

• at stage 1 the research organisation registers the output(s) with UKRI for funding. A publishing contract does not need to be signed for a stage 1 application
• at stage 2 the research organisation provides final confirmation of publication to allow UKRI to release funds

UKRI will publish its full guidance on applying to the fund and permissible costs by Autumn 2023. Research organisations will also be able to submit stage 1 applications from Autumn 2023. Updated guidance on what authors should do before then is available at: Open Access Funding and Reporting

This blog post was written by Graham Stone, senior programme manager for open access monographs.

Scottish Universities Press : Open Call for monographs

Scottish Universities Press ‘aims to provide a clear and cost-effective route for researchers to make their work freely available to a global audience, meeting the requirements of funders and realising the ambition to extend the impact of research across society. ‘ About — Scottish Universities Press (sup.ac.uk) 

The Scottish Universities Press (www.sup.ac.uk) has issued an open call for monographs and edited collections. 

More information can be found at Submit a Monograph Proposal — Scottish Universities Press (sup.ac.uk)

There is a book proposal form and the Press will also accept up to two sample chapters, which should be sent along with the proposal as separate files in Word Format.

All books will be published open access with a CC-BY-Licence on the SUP platform and there is a print option available to purchase. 
There is a modest production charge, which is agreed at the contract stage.  If authors do not have funding to cover these charges please contact SUP.

If the book contains any third party materials e.g. illustrations, the author must make sure they have all the correct copyright permissions. 
Please see the OA Toolkit for more information.  SUP can also provide advice.

SUP doesn’t publish unrevised theses but will consider proposals for monographs that are based on PhD research.
SUP is also considering how to best support Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in publishing their first monograph.

All proposals will go through a full peer review process which will be managed by the SUP Editorial Board, comprising 14 academics from participating institutions and two external representatives.

For further information and detailed guidance please look at the SUP website and the FAQs.  All enquiries can be directed via the Contact Form on the SUP website.

Having been overlooked for a long time, OA monographs are now increasingly recognised as an important factor in Open Access publishing. National Open Science policies name OA Monogaphs explicitly to help achieve openness in the way research and scholarship are conducted and made available.

To support better incorporation of OA monographs in overall OA policies and approaches, Knowledge Exchange, in 2017 and 2018 produced a landscape study on Open Access and Monographs and the results of a stakeholder survey. Outcomes indicate that there is a crucial need for international concertation and harmonisation among communities.  

To follow-up Knowledge Exchange invited experts and stakeholders from academic libraries, universities, authors, publishers, EC-officers and others for an international two-day workshop in Brussels. On 8 and 9 November 2018 intense exchanges and brainstorming resulted in the information and recommendations you will find in our latest publication Towards a Roadmap for Open Access Monographs. First published May 2019, revised version published June 2019. This 2nd version of the report was updated to include a revised summary of the examples of other funder policies on page 18. 

Chris Keene - Jisc (and Knowledge Exchange steering group), 2019

This Open Access Monographs report (July 2018) was produced by the Universities UK Open Access Monographs working group. It provides an overview of the open access (OA) landscape for monographs,significant publishing activities, and recent reports that provide an insight into the transition to OA for academic books.

This paper outlines the UK landscape for arts, humanities and social science (AHSS) monograph publishing, the state of business models to support open access (OA), the technical infrastructure, the engagement of the academic community and suggestions for improvement (published as part of Open Access Week October 2018).