OA books landscape

Open-access (OA) literature includes all scholarly outputs that are digital, online, free of charge, accessible without the registration or other access barriers, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. OA is entirely compatible with peer review, and all the major OA initiatives for scientific and scholarly literature insist on its importance.

This section aims to dispel some of the myths around open access publishing and includes sub-sections on print, peer review, quality and prestige, book processing charges, third party copyright and plagiarism.

Institutions and funders increasingly require that researchers make their books openly available in order to maximise the impact of the research they support. Open access policies vary considerably, so you should check what requirements apply to you prior to choosing a publisher to ensure that they can comply.

When considering which model to choose, what are the fundamental differences between an open access book and a non-open access book?

Your employer may have specific services available to help you when publishing a book open access. You will also be required to adhere to their policies.

Researchers may be obliged to publish their work open access or may want to explore their options of publishing open access. This article describes a typical research life cycle, consisting of eight stages that relate to the eventual publication of the research results in book form. Each life cycle phase introduces specific questions relating to authoring and publishing open access books that researchers may want to consider as their research progresses.