Engaging Monograph Authors in the Open Access Movement | Katina Magazine

"In July 2023, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), where I serve as project manager for the Amplifying Humanistic Scholarship initiative, opened a new competition for open access books. Generously supported by Arcadia, the ACLS Open Access Book Prize and Arcadia Open Access Publishing Award are the first of their kind and—with awards of $20,000 for winning authors and $30,000 for winning publishers—among the largest for humanistic scholarship.

The competition offers a new way to engage monograph authors and their publishers in the open access movement. Our goal? To attract the attention of scholars writing books in the humanities and interpretive social sciences and to raise the prestige of open access publishing in their eyes.

Connecting with authors outside of STEM fields has proven to be a significant challenge for open access advocates. Despite data demonstrating the extraordinary reach of open access monographs, as well as the diligent efforts of librarians to raise awareness, many scholars remain unaware or unconvinced of the benefits open access offers. Those who are on board often struggle to secure the necessary funding or to persuade their publishers-of-choice to consider open publication. Meanwhile stories of tenure or search committees undervaluing open access work serve as effective cautionary tales...."