Research: Europe needs a unified approach to open-access books

"The first European-level meeting on open access monographs revealed important national differences in publishing and funding cultures. But there is still a scope and need for international cooperation, argue Eelco Ferwerda and Caren Milloy. There is an established open-access publishing model for scientific papers, but in the humanities and social sciences, where monographs remain a crucial means of research dissemination, it is less well developed. As research funders worldwide increasingly insist on the results of the work they support being freely available, developing a viable form of open-access monograph publishing is essential for the continued health of much of academia. With this in mind, Jisc Collections, which supports the procurement of digital content for education and research in the UK, and Open Access Publishing in European Networks, an initiative to facilitate and promote open-access books, invited funders, publishers, policymakers and researchers from across Europe to attend a conference on open-access monographs in the humanities and social sciences in London in July. The funders and policymakers shared their practices and experiences, and identified opportunities for international cooperation—the first such discussion at a European level. Across the continent, funders are facing similar issues. Should the cost of publishing be part of the cost of research? What is a reasonable author-processing charge? Under what licence should open-access books be published? But the meeting also showed that there are substantial cultural and disciplinary differences in how funders operate and books are published. Not surprisingly, there is a diversity of approaches. Most funders are still exploring their role in the transition, some are involved in experiments to fund open-access books and some are leading a drive towards open-access monographs. The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) was the first in Europe to include monographs in its open-access policy, and has since made open access a precondition for publication grants. To jump-start the transition, the FWF is also making earlier publications open access, organising a review to select books for its open-access e-book library. It has made itself the gatekeeper, selector and funder—providing grants of up to €20,000—of open-access titles, but leaves the publishing to publishers. The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) also includes monographs in its open-access policy and has set up a temporary incentive fund to stimulate open-access publications. Sweden is exploring how funders, universities and publishers can collaborate at a national level. The objective is to broaden dissemination through open-access publishing and address quality assurance—a central issue for open-access books, as ‘free’ is often taken to signify an absence of peer review. A common reviewing system is the country’s ultimate aim. Similarly, the FWF plans to create a certification procedure for publishers, to ensure that open-access books meet academic standards and that peer-review processes are improved. German funders, on the other hand, are responding to the needs of researchers rather than driving a move to open access. The Max Planck Society, reacting to growing interest from researchers, has started to support open-access monographs. And earlier this year the DFG, Germany’s main research agency, issued a call for studies of the publishing costs, workflows and business models of open-access monographs.  Similarly, the NWO and the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council are co-funding two pilot projects, run by OAPEN, to explore open-access monograph publishing in collaboration with publishers. They will compare the impact of open-access books with that of traditionally published books. OAPEN is proposing a European deposit service for open-access books. Such a service would improve integration into library catalogues and third-party library services, and make open-access books easier to find. It would also help to establish common standards for information such as metadata, original research, publication fees and usage data, and assist the establishment and maintenance of quality criteria for academic books.  The OAPEN proposal could bring many benefits and—perhaps the most important point for libraries that are managing institutional repositories—help to avoid duplication of effort. Countries would probably develop different business models for the service, depending on the role of the research funder, the opportunities for national funding and the strength of library consortia. We know that each country has its own culture, quirks and processes, but the opportunity to take action at a European level and support a vibrant market for open-access monographs should not be missed."