British Academy calls for constructive dialogue over open access for books | British Academy

"The British Academy has today called for a constructive and transparent dialogue about how open access publication can be made to work for books, following HEFCE’s (now Research England) announcements about extending open access to monographs for REF2027. In a new position paper, Open access and monographs: Where are we now?, the British Academy identifies the key issues that need to be addressed if open access (OA) for monographs is to be a success. The monograph is an important form of publication in the humanities and social sciences, and the Academy is now giving voice to the many expressions of concern it has received in the last few weeks. The Academy argues that any future model for open access monograph publication needs to be properly funded with additional money. And a generous list of exceptions will need to be defined – for example ‘crossover’ books which merit submission to the REF but which also make an important contribution to the UK’s ‘trade’ publishing industry. The paper follows the announcements made in February and March by HEFCE’s Head of Research Policy that for REF2027 the policies on open access as applied to journal articles would be extended to include monographs and other ‘long form’ outputs...."