Simba Information: Cost of Open Access Book Publishing Goes Under the Microscope

No lunch is free, but OA's price tag has some losing their appetite

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Dec 14, 2020, 11:38 ET

ROCKVILLE, Md., Dec. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The coronavirus pandemic has thrust the idea of open access to research into the forefront, bringing more focus to open access books as researchers and librarians look for ways to push their work forward amid lockdowns and restrictions.

From the end user perspective, a large cache of freely accessible research monographs would be ideal, but open access books are still the exception not the rule. Simba Information examined the pricing issue in its latest report Open Access Book Publishing 2020-2024.

In the U.K., the UKRI is considering an Open Access policy that would mandate all UKRI-funded research published in book or chapter form should be Open Access starting in 2024.

One of the biggest objections to the plan is that it will be too expensive to fund the OA publication of academic books. The upfront costs to publish such books and make them freely available are significant. So significant that some industry insiders have speculated that this policy might be the death knell for the monograph as a viable format for scholarly work.

Conversations about the financial viability of Open Access book publishing are often predicated on a single business model—that of the book publishing charge (BPC). Detailed information about how much it costs to publish an OA book, and the revenue streams that are available to meet these costs, is rarely made public. Commercial presses are reluctant to do so on the basis that it will put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Different studies and various publisher policies point to a range between $3,000 and $18,000 per book title as the revenue needed, or alternatively, the cost per title that needs to be covered. BPCs or chapter publishing charges (CPCs) are the most used source of revenue. These charges vary widely and are often linked to page counts and other services the author might choose.

Librarians who face tightening budgets continue to express frustration with commercial publishers pricing and policies. Their frustration and researcher demand could create opportunities for more deals like the one De Gruyter and consortium led by the Göttingen State University Library signed in October 2019 to transform humanities titles into open access books by providing consortial financing for selected De Gruyter frontlist titles. Instead of acquiring print copies or licensing access to e-books, the libraries participating in the project finance open access monographs and book series. The goal was to publish more than 50 new open access titles in 2020.

Knowledge Unlatched continues to grow using crowd funding for OA books, but it is unclear if the model can be scaled to support the type of growth across the industry open access book proponents would like to see.

Other publishers have focused on partnerships to increase the visibility and discoverability of the open access books and chapters. In March 2019, IntechOpen partnered with MyScienceWork—a multidisciplinary platform with 70 million scholarly articles and 12 million patents that aims to connect people working in different fields. Since 2010, the group has been committed to the open dissemination of research outputs to increase scholarly visibility. The addition of IntechOpen's content to this database means it has broader reach, benefitting authors and readers alike. The open access books come from multiple fields; from physical sciences and engineering to technology, life sciences, social sciences and humanities.

About the Report
Open Access Book Publishing 2020-2024 provides detailed market information for this segment of scholarly book publishing. It analyzes trends impacting the industry and forecasts market growth to 2024. The report includes a review of more than 20 notable OA publishers and programs, including Bookboon.com, De Gruyter, Frontiers Media, IntechOpen, Knowledge Unlatched, MDPI, Springer Nature and Taylor & Francis.

About Simba Information
Simba Information is widely recognized as the authority for market intelligence in the media and publishing industries. Its extensive information network delivers top quality, independent perspectives on the people, events and alliances shaping the industry. Simba routinely assists clients and the press with publishing and media industry analysis. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Dan Strempel
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SOURCE Simba Information