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Opening the Future implementation toolkit
This shelf gathers together the three sections of the Copim Compass which make up the Opening the Future implementation toolkit.
Success stories
This shelf pulls together success stories from libraries, authors and publishers.
06. Opening the Future: Introduction and Description
How Opening the Future actually works is very simple, on both the publisher and the library side. It is a revenue model for open access monographs in which a press solicits a relatively small financial contribution from a moderate number of academic libraries,...
01. About Copim Compass
Copim Compass is an online information hub developed by Copim's Open Book Futures project (2023-2026).
07. Opening the Future: Financial modelling
This section provides the detailed financial modelling spreadsheets and other tools that our participating presses have used, in order for you to make your own calculations.
08. Opening the Future: workflows, partners & marketing
In order to implement Opening the Future on a day to day level, several organisational partnerships, website updates, workflows, and other BAU activities will be necessary. This section provides information about the workflows for using Opening the Future, inc...
04. Library Success Stories
Libraries are a vital and omnipresent part of open access publishing. Institutional publishing, generally in the form of university presses, is one major facet of this. Beyond that, libraries are the primary funder of collective open access funding; they provi...
05. Publisher Success Stories
COMING SOON!
09. Open Accessibility
COMING SOON!
10. Open Book Collective
The Open Book Collective are a UK registered charity (charity number: 1206287) that brings together publishers, publishing service providers, and scholarly libraries to secure the diversity and financial futures of open access book production and disseminatio...
11. Thoth Open Metadata
Thoth Open Metadata is a non-profit UK community interest company (CIC) providing innovative metadata management and distribution solutions tailored to tackle the multiple issues faced by publishers of getting open access works into the book supply chain, ensu...
13. Experimental Publishing Group
Copim’s Experimental Publishing Group are researching ways to more closely align existing software, tools and technologies, workflows and infrastructures for experimental publishing with the workflows of open access book publishers. The Experimental Publishin...
12. Archiving and Preservation
The Archiving and Preservation work package works to provide guidance and easy to use tools to help small open access presses archive and preserve their books and associated content (e.g. video, audio files etc.). They have created a help guide which outlines ...
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. Eve...
03. Author Success Stories
As open access (OA) book publishing has begun to flourish, many publishers and institutional libraries have created testimonials from the authors of these books. These testimonials cover a wide variety of aspects of OA publishing; some describe how and why an ...
Introduction: A guide of guides
Find out more about the Copim Compass.
Using the Opening the Future toolkit: An introduction to the resource
This toolkit sets out how we implemented the Opening the Future model, including the documentation of challenges, resources, timetables, and activities, from initial set up to renewals. It is intended as a roadmap for other presses that wish to implement an ‘O...
Acknowledgements
The development of this guide was led by Kira Hopkins and Anna Hughes, with additional input from Tom Grady. The authors would like to thank the following individuals who contributed to the creation, reviewing and editing of this guide: Lucy Barnes, Simon Bowi...
License
This toolkit is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). Bookstack, the platform used to run the Toolkit, is used under an MIT license.
Author and library outreach
Here we detail general outreach. However, direct outreach to libraries that you hope will support you is vital to spreading awareness of your scheme and gaining hew support. This section covers suggestions and templates for this sort of direct outreach. This c...
Keep in touch!
The guide was first published in February 2025. However, we recognise that publishing changes, Open Access changes. We therefore welcome any and all comments on the content included in the Copim Compass. Any observations can be sent directly to info@copim.ac....
About
Thoth is a non-profit, open metadata management and dissemination platform providing open solutions for small- and medium-sized book publishers to disseminate OA content openly, globally and effectively, and through both traditional supply chains and emerging ...
Software and services
Thoth’s software is open source, and in line with open data principles, the multiple output formats and specifications (e.g. ONIX, MARC, KBART, Crossref XML, json) for more than a dozen platforms are all released under a CC0 dedication. More specifically, Tho...
Contact details
Keep in touch! 🔗 https://thoth.pub 📧 info@thoth.pub Code on Github: https://github.com/thoth-pub/ Social media: Mastodon: https://hcommons.social/@Thoth_metadata Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thoth-metadata.bsky.social Supporting Thoth Daily o...
About us
The Open Book Collective hosts a number resources beyond Copim Compass, and rather duplicate content, we will provide links to these. Visit the Open Book Collective’s Information Hub, a repository of important documents relating to the OBC such as the OBC Me...
Reports on the Open Access landscape
This section includes reports on the current OA landscape in the UK and further afield. We acknowledge that as the Copim Open Book Futures is primarily a UK-based project, we are working with a highly UK and Anglophone-focussed perspective. So while we have e...
Publishing Open Access
This section contains a variety of resources including reports and toolkits about the processes of OA publishing. It is divided into two sections: 'Born-OA' publishing, where the publisher has only ever published OA books/journals Transitioning to open, wh...
Dissemination: Metadata, Archiving, Platforms
This section provides some standards, reporting, and service providers for OA book metadata and archiving.
Standards: Accessibility, Equity, Diversity
This section contains guidance on accessibility standards, and then on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) guidelines within scholarly publishing. Copim Open Book Futures Accessibility group is producing its own resource on Accessibility in OA...
Legalities: Contracts and Copyright
This section provides resources on OA contracts and on copyright; both third-party copyright in OA book, and the copyright requirements of the UK funding body.
Useful organisations, projects and platforms
This section includes organisations, projects and platforms / tools relevant to OA book publishing.
Country-Specific Guides
This section contains guidelines, reports and other resources, across a broad range of subjects, which pertain to specific geographic areas. These are roughly divided into the UK, the European Research Area (ERA), and the rest of the world. The compilers of t...
Business models
This section provides links to information about OA business models. These largely focus on the different types available, how they work, their pros and cons, and some other relevant information about funding such as UKRI's OA policy and implementation of OA b...
Glossaries and Knowledge Bases
This section gathers together two broad types of informational resources. The first is two glossaries, providing definitions of OA terms and translations into other languages; the second is a range of, compendiums of information about OA, policy finders, and s...
Testimonies and Case Studies
This section signposts to other parts of the Copim Compass: Author Success Stories Library Success Stories Publisher Success Stories Please do get in touch if you know of any other Success Stories that can be added to these sections.
Copim Compass. A guide
This toolkit is the output of one of Copim's Open Book Futures project deliverables: to establish a knowledge base to provide comprehensive resources on alternative funding models and modes of publishing, acquiring and archiving open access books, alongside ne...
Why OA (for books), and why collective funding?
Traditional academic monograph sales are declining. The sector needs some kind of change in order to survive: OA is a more cost effective way to fund and produce these books for the academic market. OA is increasingly important and in some places mandated...
What is Opening the Future?
It is a revenue model utilising a Press' closed backlist to fund the open access frontlist. The Press creates backlist packages that libraries can subscribe to. The library subscriptions are then used solely to publish frontlist titles OA. How the Op...
What Opening the Future is NOT, and the importance of working with libraries in good faith
This is not a transformative agreement which links institutional support of a Press to their own authors being allowed to publish with that Press. Having a positive, open and respectful relationship with librarians is fundamental. You should communicate wit...
Financial & resource assumptions underpinning implementing Opening the Future
You can use OtF to convert a series of books to OA (on the frontlist), or it can be used to gradually convert your entire frontlist to OA. This will change the scale of your OtF activities and how many library subscriptions you need. It may also impact how m...
Comments from current users of Opening the Future
Hear from staff at Central European University Press and Liverpool University Press, who have both been using the model since its inception in 2020. CEU Press implemented the Opening the Future model in 2021, and has been running it successfully for the ...
Membership scenario modelling
To access the modelling tool please click here 👉 Copim Opening the Future revenue projections modeller v5.xlsx Your rate of conversion to OA on the frontlist will rely on how many library subscriptions you can gain. These are, of course, subject to market c...
Tax implications
While this resource cannot dispense and does not constitute formal accountancy or legal advice with respect to taxation, there are several considerations to bear in mind: The United Kingdom’s HMRC (the formal tax body) previously advised the Open Library of...
Organisational partnerships
Delivering a worldwide membership programme requires significant resources. You can make the process more streamlined for yourself by working with trusted partners who can slot into different points in the process. The diagram below shows the relationships and...
Further logistics and workflows
You will need to display information on what packages of backlist books you are offering, and where to sign up for them. A sign up or simple enquiry form could be on your website, or on that of a 3rd party, and/or it may point potential members to the subs...
Further considerations: licensing and archiving
Use CC licencing for the OtF-funded frontlist and a Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) to govern library access to the backlist. Use a reputable host for your OA frontlist (if you do not self-host) who will ensure long-term archiving. We have suggestio...
Renewals
When the current subscription has a few months left, you should get in touch with the library to discuss renewal. Renewals may take the form of additional backlist packages, or a supporter package without backlist content. Despite the extremely difficult...
Marketing
We recommend regularly (e.g. weekly) disseminating news on your platform and social media about new library sign ups and new Otf-funded titles. We also recommend quarterly updates to your library subscribers. If you have the resources, you may want to mark...
Outreach to former and current authors
Where possible, ask your authors to undertake outreach to their own library about the model. Outreach to backlist authors Authors who have published with the press are likely to be among the keenest to ensure its future prosperity. Authors who have previ...
Outreach to open access or scholarly communications librarians
OA/scholarly communications librarians may support this model as part of the broader effort to shift the academic landscape towards open research. Open access librarians are often extremely savvy and well versed in new models for open access. Given the a...
Outreach to acquisitions/collection librarians and using Worldcat data
Acquisition/collection librarians may wish to participate in OtF in order to enhance their collections in a cost-efficient way (while also supporting open access). One of the core goals of the Opening the Future model is to shift from a bifurcated enviro...
Library consortia
Library consortia can offer extremely useful financial support, but their processes can be lengthy and complex. You should seek out consortia whose members may already publish (extensively) with you to demonstrate the value of investment. Approaching l...
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
This section contains answers to the most frequently asked questions that we encountered in deploying Opening the Future. These FAQs can be used in response to queries about the model or simply to answer these questions if you have them yourself. The numbers i...
Bibliography / further reading
Mithu Lucraft, “Open Access to academic books creates larger, more diverse and more equitable readerships,” LSE Impact Blog (blog), March 3, 2021, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2021/03/03/open-access-to-academic-books-creates-larger-more-diver...
Navigate the Copim Compass
There are different ways to navigate the Copim Compass. It is divided into sections - or 'Books' as it is termed in the Compass - which are ordered numerically. You can browse all the books via the Copim Compass homepage, which you can also access by clicking ...