Publish open access books and chapters

In this context, it may be useful to know about the two types of open access that you may encounter:

• Gold OA: Open access that includes a publication charge (BPC - Book Processing Charge).
• Diamond OA: Open access publishing without a publication cost for the author, which is instead financed by funders, universities or libraries.

KB gives some recommendations regarding open access to books:

• Institutions and research funders include scholarly books in their open access publication policies
• Institutions and funders provide financial support for the publication of open access scholarly books
• Institutions and funders provide continued and increased financial support for existing and new central open access infrastructure services and infrastructure coordination

From: KB - Open access

Some sources from KB:

• Open access to books
• Monitoring and requirements for open access and recommendations for CC licenses
• Annual report on the national work on open access
• Coordination of work on open access to scientific publications

Many major publishers, such as Springer, Taylor & Francis, Elsevier and Cambridge University Press, offer you as an author to publish your book or book chapter with open access. They use a 'Gold OA' model which includes a publication fee. Here is a table with examples of a number of major commercial publishers that publish books and book chapters with open access:

*Contact the publisher if you want a different CC license

Here is a similar table for smaller publishers that specialize in open access publishing. All of them use peer review, some of them have a 'Gold OA' model but with slightly lower publication charges (BPC) while some others have a 'Diamond OA' model with no publication charges:

* However, they are open to authors who wish to choose a different CC license.
** It depends on the scope of the book, which you can read about under "Financial aspects" here.
*** Exceptions to publication fees can be made based on a number of aspects listed here.

You can also use the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) and The OAPEN Library databases, which are search services for academic peer-reviewed books, including conference proceedings, with open access from around the world. You can search by subject but also browse lists by publisher, making them great resources for finding publishers who publish open access books.

Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)

DOAB contains descriptions of over 101,000 academic peer-reviewed open access books. The books indexed by DOAB must have open licenses (usually Creative Commons licenses, see below) that allow free reading but also permission to share them further, such as uploading them to a course platform like Canvas. The descriptions in the DOAB link you to the website where the full text is available.

The OAPEN Library

The OAPEN Library is a database that also archives the full texts of open access books. It contains over 40 000 open access books. Some titles in the database may have more restrictive licenses than those indexed in DOAB. All allow free reading but not necessarily free sharing.

The OA Books Toolkit is a service run by the organization OAPEN, which is behind the DOAB and The OAPEN Library databases. Its aim is to help researchers understand and navigate the process of publishing academic books with open access. It also aims to increase confidence in different models of open access publishing.

Free and open: The tool is freely available online and consists of short, well-structured articles with references, further reading and definitions of key concepts.

Two main parts:

• For researchers: practical advice on the publication process, choice of publisher, peer review, contracts, licenses and rights.
  
• For policy makers: Support for policy development around OA books.

Publishing process: Articles cover the whole life cycle - from choosing a publisher to dissemination and reuse. Includes tips on metadata, DOI, ORCID and visibility strategies.

Business models and funding: Explains the differences between Gold, Green and Diamond OA, as well as how BPC (Book Processing Charges) work. The service also advises on how to find funding through institutions or research funders.

Quality Assurance: Emphasizes the importance of peer review and how to identify reputable publishers (e.g. via "Think, Check, Submit - Books & Chapters " and DOAB).

Myths and facts: Includes resources that debunk common misconceptions about OA books and show benefits such as increased visibility, more downloads and higher citation rates.

Practical tools: FAQ, glossary, keyword search and examples of successful OA publishing.

The monograph remains an important form of publication for researchers in many disciplines, but is sometimes questioned because it does not undergo the same clear and documented quality control as scientific journal articles.
From: About the purpose and function of Kriterium

What is Kriterium?

Kriterium is not a publishing house, but a platform and quality label for scientific books that provides academic monographs and anthologies with structured peer review and certification before publication. The aim is to strengthen the status of the scientific book in Sweden and ensure that it maintains high scientific quality while being made freely available as open access. It is a national collaboration between Swedish universities, publishers and the National Library of Sweden with support from the Swedish Research Council and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, among others, and Gothenburg University Library acts as the host organization.

How does Kriterium work?

Kriterium always collaborates with an external publisher or a publication series; the platform itself does not publish books in-house, but contributes with peer review and a digital OA publishing platform. The manuscript must first have a publisher who takes the initiative and submits a book proposal to Kriterium. The publisher or series editor is responsible for production, distribution and printing, while Kriterium provides the academic review and open access publishing on its website.

Peer review - Kriterium's key function

The central feature of Kriterium is its controlled and documented peer review process. Each manuscript is assessed for scientific quality and relevance to its target audience according to principles similar to those used for articles in scientific journals (including OASPA guidelines). A scientific coordinator is appointed, two independent peer reviewers are engaged (at least two, usually in blind review), and their comments are managed through Kriterium's digital system. After any revisions, Kriterium evaluates the entire process (meta-review) to determine whether the work can receive Kriterium certification.

Why use Kriterium?

Increased legitimacy: Kriterium-reviewed books receive a quality stamp that is recognized within academia and can be counted in performance-based systems.

Open access dissemination: Books are made freely available digitally via the Kriterium website, as well as in international OA repositories such as OAPEN and DOAB, increasing visibility and reach.

No cost to the author: Review and digital publishing costs are covered by Kriterium, while the publisher is responsible for production.

What are Creative Commons licenses?

Creative Commons licenses are standardized copyright licenses that tell others how to read, share and reuse your work. You retain the copyright, but give prior permission for certain types of use - for example, others may distribute the book, use it in teaching, or adapt the text, depending on the license. CC licenses are often used for open access books and chapters to make the terms clear to both authors and readers.

Read more about the different licenses on the Library's Creative Commons page.

Things to consider when choosing a CC license for an OA book

Recommendations from the OA Books Toolkit:

• Research funder and institution requirements
  Some funders require a specific license, often an open license like CC BY. Always check the guidelines of the funder and the institution before signing a contract. Choosing a Creative Commons license
• Publisher's license offer and possible fees
  Not all publishers offer all CC licenses, and in some cases the Book Publishing Charge (BPC) may differ depending on the license you choose. Check what licenses are available and if it affects the cost. Choosing a Creative Commons license
• How open and usable do you want your book to be?
  The OA Books Toolkit raises questions like: How open do you want to make your work? Do you want to allow adaptations? Do you want to allow commercial use? Your answers will determine whether, for example, CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC or more restrictive licenses like CC BY-NC-ND are appropriate. Choosing a Creative Commons license
• Copyright and book contracts
  Pay attention to who formally retains the copyright (you or the publisher) and how it is described in the contract. The OA Books Toolkit stresses that the terms of open access - including the license chosen - should be clearly stated in the contract. Book contract, permissions, rights and license
• Third party material in the book
  Images, tables or other illustrations from other sources are not automatically covered by your CC license. You may need special permissions or use material with compatible licenses. The Toolkit has specific sections on rights and third party material. Book contract, permissions, rights and license

Other support on licenses

• DOAB recommendations on licenses
  For publishers wishing to have their books indexed, DOAB explicitly recommends that license terms are clearly stated and preferably with Creative Commons licenses or similar open terms. Join DOAB: Requirements and Application
• Creative Commons: Choose a License for Your Work

What is parallel publishing?

Parallel publishing, or green open access, means that you make a version of your publication freely available in an open repository, such as DiVA. It is the peer-reviewed, Accepted Author Manuscript (AAM) that may be parallel published - not the publisher's typed pdf or published book version. For books and book chapters, this means uploading the final accepted manuscript as it was before the publisher's layout work.

When is parallel publishing possible?

The possibility of parallel publishing is governed by the publisher's policy. It is relatively uncommon for publishers to allow parallel publishing of whole books, while book chapters often follow similar rules to journal articles - that is, AAM can be made freely available after a possible embargo (usually 6-24 months, but varies between publishers and topics).

Publishers' self-archiving policies and where you can upload the accepted version

Publishers' rules usually specify:

• Which version of the text may be uploaded (almost always AAM).

• If and how long an embargo applies.

• Where the manuscript may be uploaded - often allowed in the institution's open repository (e.g. DiVA), but not always on commercial platforms such as ResearchGate or Academia.edu.

• Special conditions apply to book chapters compared to whole books.

As an author, you therefore need to check the publisher's terms and conditions before publishing or uploading anything. You can get help with this from the library.

Open Policy Finder - help interpreting publishers' rules

Open Policy Finder is a free tool that allows you to search for publishers and see their policies on parallel publishing, embargoes, permitted versions and approved upload platforms. The service provides a quick overview of whether and how you can parallel publish your book chapter or (in rarer cases) your book.

Brief summary of the most common rules around parallel publishing:

• Parallel publishing applies to the accepted manuscript, not the publisher's pdf.
• Publishers often allow self-archiving of book chapters, but rarely of whole books.
• Embargoes and conditions vary between publishers.
• The Open Policy Finder is a good tool to check what applies.