IN DEPTH ‘‘
Tom Morley, Research Culture and Open Mono- graphs Lead at Lancaster University.
Lancaster University is a research-intensive institution. Openness is one of the core values of the university, reflected in Lancaster University’s founding motto, ‘Truth lies open to all’.
How to achieve open access for books
Creating a research culture where open access (OA) monograph publishing is an every- day practice – Lancaster University’s Tom Morley on how the library is helping to shift the dial and create a culture of OA publishing.
THERE has been much discussion about open access (OA) for books over the last few years. Open access mandates for books have been implemented by several research funders, including Wellcome Trust and UKRI.
But books are not included in the REF2029 Open Access policy. Although an open access requirement for submission of books will be in place for the next assessment exercise, it will not be implemented until 1 January 2029.
These policies mean the sector must find a way to ensure the sustainable and widespread adoption of open access for long-form outputs. Open access books themselves have many benefits for both authors (studies have shown that OA titles receive more downloads and citations than non-OA titles), and for broader society through ensuring equitable access to knowledge.
Lancaster University
Lancaster University is a research-intensive institution. Openness is one of the core values of the university, reflected in Lancaster University’s founding motto, “Truth lies open to all”. In 2021, the university published its principles of open research which sets out the university’s commitment to create a culture in which Open Research is the default behaviours of our research community. We aim to foster an environment where our research
June-July 2026
colleagues feel they can engage with open research as part of normal everyday practice, rather than as a box ticking exercise, including publishing long-form open access outputs.
Barriers: cost
One of the main barriers preventing the widespread adoption of open access for books is the cost. The current most prominent financial model for pub- lishing OA books is through publishers charging a Book Processing Charge (BPC) to make a Gold open access version of the title available on their website. Typically, these charges can range between £10,000 and £15,000 per title. For a medium sized institu- tion such as Lancaster University, which publishes 70 academic book titles a year, this model is not affordable. If we are to move to a research culture where OA monograph publishing is normal, every- day practice, we must find more affordable publish- ing models.
Culture
There also remains a lack of awareness and mis- conceptions amongst our researcher community when it comes to open access for books. Monograph publishing is typically more common within the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences where the concept of open access is less well established than in fields dominated by journal publication where open access has been widespread for over a decade. Authors also invest significant time into producing
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