Publishing open monographs - An author checklist

1. Apply for a research funding grant

When applying for external funding, always check whether the funder has an open access (OA) policy and considers OA an eligible cost.
Funding institutions may allow budgeting in the grant application or have processes during the grant period to apply for funds. It is important to include realistic costs for OA publishing in the budget you request, wherever possible.
Some funders such as UKRI do not allow OA costs to be included in a funding application but there are post award processes in place to request OA publishing funds.

2. Confirm funder requirements and availability of funds for payments

You should confirm any actions you will need to take in line with your funder’s open access requirements before signing your contract with the publisher.

If funded by the UKRI, check whether your output is in scope and make a phase one application to the UKRI longform fund to confirm whether your work will be eligible for OA publication funding.

Make a UKRI in-scope request (SSO required)

Apply for Wellcome trust funding for monographs.

If funded by the European Commission, you must use the money budgeted in your grant.

Learn more about open access policies and funder provision for monographs

3. Choosing a Publisher

There are many publishers that publish open access books - from large traditional publishers to small new open access presses.

View a list of OA publishers (DOAB)

Publishers will have guidelines on word count, formatting, etc. If you have chosen a publisher, you need to be aware of these during the writing process.

4. Assess your route to open access

Check the publisher’s open access policy.

Is there an author deposit option for this publisher?

If you have already chosen a publisher, check whether they have any no-fee schemes and whether your work is eligible.

Learn more about paying for open access

Does the publisher issue a charge for open access publication – do you have funds for this? (see above)

5. Consider third party copyright in your work

If you have included material from third party sources, consider what you need to do in order to make this available in your work. Many publishers put the onus on the author to secure (and sometimes pay for) permission to reproduce this material.

Some funders will provide money for paying the third-party copyright costs.

UKRI have prepared a good practice guide for researchers publishing open access monographs and book chapters:

Managing third-party copyright for research publications (ukri.org)

6. Prepare your manuscript, submission and peer review

Don’t forget to acknowledge the funder that is paying your open access fee. Many funding bodies require acknowledgement before the work can be counted as an output of the research grant, whether or not they have contributed to your open access fee.

See our templates for author acknowledgements

If your open access book is an edited collection or handbook, ensure that all contributors know that the book will be published OA.

Submit your final manuscript to your publisher after any peer review process and edits.

7. Choose a license

Your funder may specify which licence type the open access book must be published under.

Learn more about licences for open access

8. Publication

During and after publication you can do many things to ensure your work has the widest discoverability and accessibility possible.

Learn more about self-promoting your book

If funded by UKRI you can now complete your application for their longform fund. Do get in touch with our open access payments team at oapayments@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

9. Deposit your book into the Oxford University Research Archive (ORA)

You can also deposit the manuscript into Oxford’s institutional repository, ORA.

Even if your book has been published OA, by depositing in ORA you will take advantage of the many benefits of ORA as well as those offered by the publisher. ORA staff will review the submission and will check what can be made available under publisher policies.

Learn more about the benefits of depositing into ORA

Data that underpins the research – which may include data collected, images, tables, surveys, reports and many others – can be deposited as a data record in ORA and linked to the book record.

Learn more about ORA deposit procedures

10. Congratulations! Your work has come to fruition and your book has been published open access.

Many publishers will also do a print run of your book which will be sold via traditional routes.