The profits of free books - an experiment to measure the impact of Open Access publishing

Abstract: In order to measure the impact of Open Access (OA) publishing of academic books, an experiment was set up. During a period of nine months three sets of books were disseminated through an institutional repository, the Google Book Search program or both channels. A fourth set was used as control group. Open Access publishing enhances discovery and online consultation. No relation could be found between OA publishing and citation rates. Contrary to expectations, OA publishing does not stimulate or diminish sales figure. The Google Book Search program is superior compared to the repository.