02. Open Access Book Publishing: A Comprehensive Overview of Resources
In many ways the open access (OA) books landscape has exploded in the last few years, with increasing numbers of OA initiatives, open infrastructures, policies, best practice guidelines, explanatory guides, how-to toolkits for OA publishing, and many more. Even for those who try to stay in the know, it can be overwhelming!
At Copim, therefore, we have tried to create a ‘guide of guides’, so to speak. This 'guide of guides' has been made within the following parameters: resources included were made specifically in support of OA, that they related to long-form publication, and that they provided guidance and information that was broadly applicable, rather than, e.g. being the guidelines for an individual publisher (except where they have been adopted more widely as a standard in lieu of more generic resources). We have collated, categorised, and described these existing resources, which are summarised in the sections below.
Please note that many of these resources can be found in more than one section, where we felt they were relevant to multiple subject headings.
We acknowledge that our collection here, while expansive, is undoubtedly biased in language and region, as the two principle creators of this ‘guide of guides’ are UK-based. However, we have tried to mitigate this to an extent by seeking input to our list of resources from the US, EU, Middle East and Africa.
We welcome feedback from Copim Compass users regarding any key resources you believe are missing. Please reach out to us at info@copim.ac.uk. Your input is invaluable in helping us improve this resource for everyone!
Introduction: What will I find here?
In this section, you will find a myriad of resources to support OA book publishing ranging from b...
Reports on the Open Access landscape
This section includes reports on the current OA landscape in the UK and further afield. We ackno...
Collaboration in Diamond Open Access publishing
The opportunities and benefits of collaboration within Diamond OA publishing are evident on indiv...
Copim WP7 Report on Archiving and Preserving Open Access Monographs
A report on the Copim project's knowledge and recommendation on archiving and preservation. It pr...
Guidance on managing copyright under UKRI open access policy
UKRI's report from 2023 provides guidance and explanations on third party copyright in the UK con...
Landscape of no-fee open access publishing in Africa
A landscape study from EIFL on Diamond OA journals in Africa which provides detailed reports for ...
Open Book Futures InfoHub scoping report
This scoping report was the first step in the process of establishing a ‘knowledge base’ (or equi...
PALOMERA Recommendations for Open Access Academic Book Policies
The PALOMERA project, which ended in early 2025, aimed to ensure academic books and monographs ar...
Report from a workshop on sustainable open access book publishing in East Africa
In October 2024, a collaborative online-session for publishers from East Africa was co-organised ...
Supporting learned society, subject association, and smaller specialist publishers to transition to open access book publishing
This report, the result of a collaboration between UKRI, ALPSP, the British Academy, OASPA and In...
TOME Report: The Cost to Publish TOME Monographs
A study of the costs incurred by US university presses in publishing scholarly monographs as part...
TOME Stakeholder Value Assessment: Final Report
The concluding report about the author experiences with the TOME project, and more general conclu...
Publishing Open Access
This section contains a variety of resources including reports and toolkits about the processes o...
Testimonies and Case Studies
This section signposts to other parts of the Copim Compass: Author Success Stories Library Su...
Business models
This section provides links to information about OA business models. These largely focus on the d...
An introduction to UKRI’s fund for longform outputs
This is a guide for UKRI-funded authors on how to use the UKRI research fund to make their longfo...
Business Models for Open Access Books
This collection of case studies was brought together by Lucy Barnes of Open Book Publishers and F...
Classifying open access business models
This opinion piece by Tasha Mellins-Cohen (founder at Mellins-Cohen Consulting and Executive Dire...
Consider your options: explore the different funding streams for Diamond Open Access
This guide (an output from the DIAMAS project) lists different funding streams for Diamond OA pub...
Cookbook for Open Access books
This book describes the experiences of setting up a community-based publisher, Language Science P...
Open Book Environment (OBE) Dashboard
Open Book Environment (OBE) Dashboard is a joint initiative from the Universities of Derby and Ve...
Open policy finder (Jisc)
'Open Access for Books' is a new addition to Jisc’s well established Sherpa toolsuite of resource...
Plan S: New tool to assess equity in scholarly communication models
This online assessment tool, launched in 2024, enables self-assessment of financial models by fun...
Toolkit to foster Open Access Agreements for Smaller Independent Publishers (cOAlition S)
The toolkit was developed by Information Power, working together with librarians, publishers and ...
Dissemination: Metadata, Archiving, Platforms
This section provides some standards, reporting, and service providers for OA book metadata and a...
Copim WP7 Report on Archiving and Preserving Open Access Monographs
A report on the Copim Project's knowledge and recommendation on archiving and preservation. It pr...
DIAMAS Best Practices checklist for Diamond OA publishers
This self-assessment checklist from the DIAMAS project is for publishers of Diamond OA books and ...
OPERAS Metrics
OPERAS, referenced elsewhere on Copim Compass in different capacities, offers metrics about the u...
Thoth
Thoth is a non-profit, open metadata management and dissemination platform whose recent whose suc...
Standards: Accessibility, Equity, Diversity
This section contains guidance on accessibility standards, and then on Equity, Diversity, Inclusi...
Legalities: Contracts and Copyright
This section provides resources on OA contracts and on copyright; both third-party copyright in O...
Useful organisations, projects and platforms
This section includes organisations, projects and platforms / tools relevant to OA book publishing.
Organisations
AG Universitätsverlage (University Press Association) AG Universitätsverlage brings together p...
Platforms & services
ASK UP Rotating presses give first hand experience answers. Also an FAQ section and list of pr...
Projects
Copim Open Book Futures Copim is a community of people, organisations, and infrastructures wor...
Country-Specific Guides
This section contains guidelines, reports and other resources, across a broad range of subjects, ...
European Research Area (ERA)
The European Research Area (ERA) is the ambition to create a single, borderless market for resear...
Rest of World
Around the World with the Open Access Books Network (OABN) A series of blog posts from the OAB...
UK Guidance
An introduction to UKRI’s fund for longform outputs This is a guide for UKRI-funded authors on...
Glossaries and Knowledge Bases
This section gathers together two broad types of informational resources. The first is two glossa...
Toolkits
This section contains toolkits already available which cover different aspects of open access. As...
COPIM's toolkit for running an Opening the Future programme at an academic press
This document sets out how Copim implemented the Opening the Future (OtF) model, including the do...
DIAMAS Best Practices checklist for Diamond OA publishers
This self-assessment checklist from the DIAMAS project is for publishers of Diamond OA books and ...
European University Association: The new university Open Access checklist
This checklist, produced in 2021, made recommendations for advocacy and actions to support open a...
Experimental Publishing Compendium
The Experimental Publishing Compendium is a guide and reference for scholars, publishers, develop...
Focused Toolkit for Journal Editors and Publishers: Building Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Editorial Roles and Peer Review (C4DISC)
The toolkit is focused on building representation among peer reviewers and fostering equity in th...
New University Press toolkit
An online guide from Jisc supporting and giving guidance to new university presses and library-le...
OAPEN: OA books toolkit
This toolkit aims to help book authors to better understand open access book publishing and to in...
Open Book Collective toolkit
The Open Book Collective toolkit is for small, scholar-led OA publishers who are either setting u...
Scholarly Communication Toolkit: Open Access Policies & Publishing toolkit
This resource has also pointed to some other toolkits that could be interesting as a lot of them ...
SCURL EDI Network: EDI toolkit
This toolkit from the SCURL EDI Network aims to support member libraries in embedding good practi...
Toolkit to foster Open Access Agreements for Smaller Independent Publishers (cOAlitionS)
This toolkit was developed by Information Power, commissioned by cOAlition S and ALPSP. It provid...