Published 7 September 2020

How does an open access book differ from an open access journal?

Although the process of open access is similar for both books and journal articles, the two formats are arguably very different, making the publication of open access books a more complex process than that of producing journals.

Open access for journals has been an established practice for more than two decades. However, this convention is still emerging with regards to open access books (Crossick, 2015). This is most likely due to the complex nature of book publishing compared to journal articles. The term ‘open access book’ covers a wide range of long-form academic publications, including monographs, edited collections, handbooks, textbooks or reference works (Crossick, 2015). While a journal article averages 15 pages, a book tends to have around 300 pages (Snijder, 2019).

The following toolkit article(s) address(es) this question:

The difference between an open access book and an open access journal

Last edited on 7 September 2020, at 15:00 (+0000)