How the COPIM Project and the UCSB Library are “Scaling Small” toward an open monograph future - Office of Scholarly Communication

"The UCSB Library is strongly committed to supporting Open Access initiatives promoting an open, inclusive, diverse, and sustainable publishing ecosystem in which all knowledge producers are equally empowered to publish and disseminate their research without barriers. Given the importance of the monograph to the creation and dissemination of research in the Humanities and Social Science, a shift to Open Access for academic monographs is not only possible but necessary. The UCSB Library’s participation in the COPIM project—including the Opening the Future initiative based on the principle of ‘Scaling Small’—is an important example of UCSB’s institutional commitment to Open Access transformation.  ... In the context of the COPIM project, ‘Scaling Small’ involves creating an environment in which a large number of nonprofit publishers of whatever size, with a variety of business models, can sustainably transition to Open Access at a manageable cost through a collaborative effort. The concept is deeply rooted in promoting a sustainable collaborative environment, rather than a competitive publishing ecosystem, through the creation of unions of small independent or scholar-led presses that can provide mutual aid and logistical support, shared services, and best practices.  One of these best practices is avoiding the use of Book Publishing Charges (BPCs) to finance Open Access monograph publishing. Given that funding for OA publishing projects is not widely available in the Humanities and Social Sciences, it’s often unclear who can or should be responsible for covering any potential BPC-related costs.  Furthermore, there are significant ethical challenges, in the sense that BPCs can worsen existing inequities in access to the means of publishing, especially for publishers and authors in the Global South.  COPIM aims to showcase non-BPC-based Open Access business models that incorporate infrastructural innovations and cost reductions through streamlined operating processes, production workflows, and economic efficiencies. This approach will benefit all scales of publishing initiatives, including the Humanities and Social Science monographs originating from the Global North and the Global South...."