UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) introduced its open access policy for monographs, book chapters and edited collections in January 2024.
Since then, we have been working collaboratively with stakeholders to support the transition to open access books.
Researcher case studies
We are pleased to share case studies from 16 researchers who have published their monographs or edited collections open access.
The researchers come from different disciplinary backgrounds, across different geographical regions and have published with a range of publishers.
The case studies cover the different reasons why they considered open access for their work, the difficulties they encountered and the benefits they found.
New requirement for UKRI funded researchers
Open access publishing for monographs, book chapters and edited collections is a new requirement for UKRI funded researchers.
Therefore, we have published these case studies so UKRI-funded researchers can learn from the experiences of their colleagues.
The case studies, produced by Insights Media for UKRI, are available in multiple formats, including posters, slides and videos.
The materials are openly licensed for reuse to support researchers and their organisations.
Read the case studies about publishing books open access.
A guide for publishers
UKRI has published a guide to support book publishers in their transition to sustainable open access models.
The guide:
- focuses on learned society, subject association, and smaller specialist publishers
- explains what steps can be taken to help small and specialist book publishers to transition to open access successfully and sustainably
The guide is accompanied by a report that identifies what needs to happen to help small and specialist book publishers to adopt open access models successfully and sustainably.
The report also sets out a shared vision that was co-developed with stakeholders.
Supporting prioritisation around open access actions
The shared vision aims to support decision making and prioritisation around open access actions and investment.
UKRI worked in partnership with the following organisations on this project:
- Association of Learned Society Publishers
- British Academy
- Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association
The project was delivered by Information Power.
See:
- How to begin the OA transition: a guide for smaller and specialist publishers
- Supporting learned society, subject association, and smaller specialist publishers to transition to open access book publishing
Update on policy implementation
UKRI is pleased to announce that we have now awarded open access funding for 32 longform publications.
The awards were issued in December 2024.
We are now receiving submissions for the next payment period, which closes in April 2025.
The UKRI fund can be used to support the publication of monographs under any open access model, including diamond.
A diamond open access model does not incur a fee to publish, and this is a new way of supporting open access.
We are now seeing books published via this model.
Help explore diamond models for open access
We are working with Jisc to help other research organisations understand how they could explore diamond models for open access.
The OAPEN Foundation service will include all monographs and edited collections that are published under our policy on the Directory of Open Access Books.
We are now working with OAPEN to add the titles to this discovery service.
Find out more about how we fund open access funding.
Bedding in period
UKRI launched its policy for monographs, book chapters, and edited collections with a bedding-in period to allow research organisations and award holders to establish practice and mechanisms for UKRI’s new policy and funding approach.
We have undertaken an assessment of the early implementation period of the policy.
Based on the evidence and stakeholder engagement, we do not envisage any major changes to the policy implementation.
Any updates arising from this assessment will be to improve the clarity of our guidance and resources for researchers and their organisations.
These will be published on our website in March 2025.
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