OAPEN — Open Access Book Experiment in Humanities, Social Sciences

"What is also unusual about this study is that it focuses on previously published books. Monographs must have been published between 2006 and February 2011 in order to be eligible, with the experiment scheduled to commence in May 2011. This design rules out a study that begins with a cohort of newly published books that tracks their performance over their lifespan....As Ronald Snijder explains in his open access study of AUP books, academic libraries (nearly exclusive purchaser of academic books in the humanities) do not make purchase decisions based on whether a monograph is available digitally. Most university libraries rely upon approval plans that purchase books automatically from university and academic presses....The experiment is therefore designed to reveal null results on sales, which is exactly what Snijder reports in his study, and as a logical conclusion, publishers should not be threatened by open access. Coupled with increased PDF downloads as a result of putting free copies of books online — whether they are read or not — the headline of the study could be written today and the British government could have saved taxpayers £250,000...."