The open access (OA) movement has resulted in increased accessibility of scholarly content, and this is true for scholarly books as well as journal articles. More and more books are being made available as OA—a result of shifting trends when it comes to reading and engaging with scholarly content. The appeal of immediate and free access to thousands of OA books is clear for readers. But researchers also benefit from increased visibility and citation impact when publishing their books as OA.

In this article, we will explain what an OA book is, how they benefit from increased visibility, the importance of the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) in scholarly book publishing, and what open infrastructure policies such as the UKRI Open Access Policy mean for researchers.

What is an open access book?

An open access book is a digital publication made freely available online without licensing or paywall restrictions. This open model is funded by book processing charges (BPCs) being paid directly to publishers of OA books by authors or, most commonly, their institutions and/or alternative collective models.

Generally, OA books do not generate revenue for either the publisher or the author. Instead, their main purpose is to promote equal access to scholarly content whilst increasing the visibility of authors and their research.

Common types of OA book include monographs, edited books, textbooks, and conference proceedings. Although certain disciplines such as the humanities and social sciences are more suited to long-form scholarly publications, general adoption of OA for books is increasing across most disciplines. The Open Access Network has information on the spread and acceptance of open access books across each discipline.

How open access books benefit from increased visibility

Open access books benefit from increased visibility in many ways. A study analysing the performance of open access books published by Springer Nature demonstrated that they:

• Reach more countries and have a higher geographic diversity of usage;
• Have higher usage amongst low- and middle-income countries;
• Have ten times more downloads than non-OA books and more than double the citations;
• For every type of book and every discipline studied, OA books show more usage than their non-OA comparison groups.

A previous survey completed by MDPI Books also found that increased citations and references, number of downloads and views, and visibility and reach were by far the most important factors for authors, scholars, and readers when assessing the success of an OA book.

So, how do the unique features and possibilities of OA books lend themselves to our digital age and its various forms of discovery and consumption? Here are some of the key ones:

• Easily and permanently accessible in libraries and databases;
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO);
• Online marketing.

Easily and permanently accessible in libraries and databases

OA books are deposited and archived in online libraries and databases. These online platforms permanently host and/or harvest the metadata of OA books provided by publishers to make it easier for users to locate titles.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO is also used by publishers such as MDPI Books to improve an OA book’s visibility and authority on a search engine results page (SERP). SEO strategies include utilising the established domain reputation of MDPI, transparent pricing information, and meta descriptions and keywords.

Online marketing

Finally, online marketing strategies complement OA books. This is because most marketing strategies are performed online, making it easier to direct audiences to free-to-download OA books. Online marketing campaigns, if successful, can also generate lots of traffic and increase the visibility of an OA book.

For more information, see our article on how open access books benefit from increased visibility.

The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB): How it works and why it matters

The number of scholarly books being made available as open access is increasing. Consequently, this raises the issue of making this vast catalogue of knowledge discoverable for authors, students, and readers alike. This is where the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) comes in.

The DOAB was launched in 2012 by the OAPEN foundation, a not-for-profit foundation supporting open access infrastructure within scholarly book publishing.

OA book publishers are invited to provide the metadata of their scholarly publications to the DOAB. Metadata refers to key information about the book. This includes title, author, publisher, DOIs, ISBNs, subject and keywords, licensing, and peer review details. This metadata is made harvestable by DOAB to maximise dissemination, visibility, and impact. Metadata helps users discover scholarly content much more easily than if they were searching through traditional search engines or various publisher libraries.

The Directory of Open Access Books matters because trust matters in academic publishing matters. Users want to know that the books they are engaging with are peer reviewed. They also want to know that the publishers behind these books can be trusted, ensure long-term accessibility, and use OA licenses like Creative Commons. The DOAB centralises all the information necessary for users to validate scholarly long-form content.

For more information, see our article on the DOAB.

Policies shaping the open access book landscape: the UKRI Open Access Policy

Further supporting open infrastructure is the implementation of policies that seek to facilitate the adoption of scholarly open access books. In the UK, the recent UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Open Access Policy aims to help with this mission.

The policy requires that publicly funded research findings are made freely and immediately accessible for others to read, use, and build upon. This means that in-scope monographs, book chapters, and edited collections published on or after 1 January 2024 which acknowledge funding from UKRI must be published as OA within 12 months of publication.

To ensure compliance, authors must either:

• Publish their research as open access via a publisher’s website or publishing platform;
• Deposit their research in an institutional or subject repository.

MDPI Books ensures that authors funded by UKRI will have their research made immediately OA upon publication and hosted in our online library.

We are compliant with all the basic UKRI policies, such as:

• Gold open access;
• No embargo period;
• Fully OA with no restrictions on institutional or regional access;
• Any Creative Commons license can be applied according to the author’s preference;
• Available electronically immediately and in printed format.

For more information on how to apply for UKRI funding as a UK-based author, see our article on the UKRI Open Access Policy and what it means for academic book authors.

Publishing an open access book with MDPI Books

Want to publish an open access book and benefit from maximum visibility and impact? Find our more information on our Publish with Us page, where you will also find a proposal form to submit. We also have a step-by-step funding guide that authors can use to secure fees to cover book processing charges.