Monographs are an integral part of open access book publishing. As a specialised form of scholarly work, monographs play a crucial role in disseminating in-depth research and fostering intellectual discourse within various disciplines.

In this article, we look at the current state of open access monographs in the UK and what is being done to integrate them into the wider research culture.

2024 UKRI Open Access Policy

Perhaps the biggest development for open access monographs in the UK this year was the introduction of the URKI Open Access Policy. A total of £3.5 million will be provided to support authors in publishing their long-form outputs (monographs, book chapters or edited books) as open access.

In summary, the new policy requires authors to make their UKRI-funded monographs, book chapters and edited books open access within 12 months of publication. The aim of the policy is to ensure that the research of authors becomes widely accessible and easier to use and build upon.

But what else is being done to integrate monographs into the wider research culture within the UK?

Open Book Futures project

The Open Book Futures project hopes to implement infrastructures, workflows, and collaborations that will help create a fairer and more sustainable model for open access books.

It will aim to do so by delivering new levels of funding for open access book publishing, involving more libraries and presses, and fostering new programmes as well as strengthening relations between like-minded initiatives. Consortium members for the Open Book Futures project consist of higher organisations such as Lancaster University and open access initiatives like the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB).[i]

The Open Book Futures project builds upon the groundwork initiated by the COPIM (Community-led Open Publication Infrastructure for Monographs). Ultimately, it strives to build upon and expand the infrastructure already in place, making it easier for authors to access funding and publish their book as open access.

Together with policies such as the UKRI Open Access Policy, the mission to make academic research in the form of books freely accessible to all appears to be moving in the right direction.

Research culture and open access monographs

Despite these positive developments within open access book publishing in the UK, many difficulties still exist when it comes to integrating open access monographs into the wider research culture. So, what are some of these issues?

Finances

Book processing charges typically cost between £10,000-15,000, with the total cost for open access monographs per year being £1.2 million[ii].

Whilst the UKRI’s funding seeks to alleviate some of the financial burden involved in producing an open access monograph, the scale of costs can still be difficult for authors to comprehend. There is also a lack of awareness surrounding how to meet these charges. (This is why we’ve put together a freely accessible guide on how to find funding for your open access book).

Institutional inequality and research culture

Current funding models tend to privilege researchers from wealthy institutions and established academics, with those from lesser established institutions effectively becoming marginalised in the race for funding.

Additionally, the current research culture heavily focuses on prestige, with some publishers seen as more “legitimate” than others.

Together, these biases create a research culture where inequality prevails, and preconceived and outdated notions of academic integrity mean important research becomes overlooked.

Lack of awareness and misconceptions

In general, researchers and academics may be unaware of the open access publishing routes available to them, such as Gold, Diamond and Green OA. This lack of awareness means it’s hard to incentivise authors away from traditional, more established publishing models.

Others may be reluctant to adopt the open access book publishing model due to preconceived misconceptions. These can include a belief that open access book publishing means the end of traditional book printing, for example. But even ‘fully’ open access publishers also produce print copies of monographs and consider them equally important as online versions.

Concerns about alternative publishing models

Traditional book publishing is well established. However, open access book publishing has struggled to assert itself within the publishing landscape.

Research has shown that in the past there have been concerns about the quality of OA monographs. These quality concerns range from doubts about editorial processes to peer review.

Indeed, there is a lingering assumption within the world of research that open access is “harmful” to academic careers because it is not as academically rigorous. Yet open access publishers have the same quality controls as non-open access publishers, discrediting the idea that open access has lower editorial or peer review standards.

The future of open access monographs in the UK

As it stands, around 80% of the UK’s research output can be made open access through transformative agreements. Yet it’s apparent that open access monographs still need to be further integrated into the wider research culture.

Whilst transformative agreements such as the UKRI Open Access Policy and Open Book Futures project open up new and diverse routes into open access book publishing within the UK, it is not just the infrastructure that needs to change. Culture and our attitude towards open access monographs needs to shift too.

This will involve making it more rewarding to publish an open access monograph for authors, greater communication with the researcher community, and promoting open research.[iii]

Here at MDPI Books, we recognise that it’s important to not only publish open access monographs, but to increase awareness of them. That’s why we also publish informative content about monographs.

Are you ready to be a part of the cultural shift towards open research? Submit a book proposal for your monograph with MDPI Books today.

 

 

[i] Lancaster University is a member of MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP), and MDPI Books is a Bronze Sponsor of the Directory of Open Access Books.

[ii] These figures were provided by Tom Morley during his presentation entitled ‘Making it possible and making it easy: Research Culture and Open Access Monographs’, given at the USKG 2024 conference in Glasgow.

[iii] Tom Morley, ‘Making it possible and making it easy: Research Culture and Open Access Monographs’.