Monographs and edited collections

Dr Matthew Kerry

For an early career researcher, the publication of their first monograph is a pivotal moment, one that can potentially shape their future career. While many early career researchers recognize the benefits of open access and support expanding accessibility, the question remains: does open access publishing confer the desired level of prestige that these researchers seek for their debut monograph? 

Dr Matthew Kerry

Dr Matthew Kerry, an Associate Professor at the Faculty of History in Oxford and a tutorial fellow at Jesus College, grappled with these questions when seeking to publish his first monograph, based on his doctoral research thesis. He was inspired by the open access ethos and wanted to publish a book that people could read, not one priced well out of most people’s reach.  

Beyond concerns of prestige and cost, early career researchers face the daunting task of navigating the often opaque and bewildering world of book publishing. Matthew encountered difficulties marketing and explaining his work to potential publishers. His work focused on 1930s Spain before the Civil War. 

The New Historical Perspectives series

The New Historical Perspectives series, commissioned and edited by the Royal Historical Society, in association with University of London Press and the Institute of Historical Research is a series of history monographs tailored to new authors, including recent Ph.D. graduates. It provides extensive feedback and support, an experience that Matthew found supportive and navigable. This scheme is supported by Oxford University.  

The series employs an intensive workshopping process that involves submitting a book proposal, chapter outline, and sample writing for peer review. Upon acceptance, Matthew worked on the full manuscript, which was then subject to a rigorous review by specialists arranged by the publisher. This in-depth feedback process resembled a second viva examination and allowed Matthew to further refine his manuscript before publication. 

Matthew was reassured by the prestige conferred by a University Press – and as this series publishes open access under a ‘diamond’ model Matthew did not have to pay a fee (or ‘book processing charge’) to make his work open access. Instead, the scheme is sustained through institutional memberships. 

Due to open publication, Matthew's work was easily accessible to readers globally. The book experienced an initial swell in readership, followed by a long tail of sustained interest, demonstrating that open access content allows for ongoing discovery. 

'Unite, Proletarian Brothers! Radicalism and Revolution in the Spanish Second Republic' by Matthew Kerry is available from University of London Press. This book is published open access through the "New Historical Perspectives" series. 

Unite, Proletarian Brothers! Radicalism and Revolution in the Spanish Second Republic

'Unite, Proletarian Brothers! Radicalism and Revolution in the Spanish Second Republic' available from University of London Press   

Eleanor Peers

The benefits of open access are well known – increased accessibility, greater impact, public benefit – but these often seem to come with the price of greater effort. Open access can be seen by researchers as an extra imposition. However, open access does not need to be more difficult than traditional publishing - but can even be the choice of convenience.

Eleanor Peers

Eleanor Peers, the Subject Consultant for Slavonic and East European Studies at the Social Science Library of the Bodleian Libraries, contributed a chapter for an edited anthropology volume on lifestyle in Siberia and the Russian north. After publication of this volume was delayed for several years, word of mouth and a positive recommendation from a colleague led the authors to publish this volume via Open Book Publishers (OBP), an open access publishing house.  

Whilst the authors considered open access a benefit, this choice was driven by the desire to publish their work via a reputable publishing platform rather than a commitment to open access principles.

Open book publishers

Open Book Publishers  (OBP) is a non-profit, scholar led, fully open access publisher specializing in the Humanities and Social Sciences in the UK. They don't impose charges on authors for making their work open access. Instead, they sustain their publications through library memberships, grants, and the sale of hard copy editions of their books. This scheme is supported by Oxford University. 

OBP offered a straightforward and easy publishing experience for Eleanor and her co-authors, successfully navigating the sometime challenging aspects of open access publication, including reuse licenses, copyright, and funding. 

Lifestyle in Siberia and the Russian North

Eleanor’s chapter ‘Soviet Kul’tura in Post-Soviet Identification: The Aesthetics of Ethnicity in Sakha (Yakutia)’ can be found in the edited volume ‘Lifestyle in Siberia and the Russian North’ published open access via Open Book Publishers.

'Lifestyle in Siberia and the Russian North' available via Open Book Publishers 

Professor Caroline Warman

Open access books can be published in a variety of formats, including print-on-demand, ebook, and HTML, allowing authors to choose the format that best suits their needs and the needs of their readers. This increased flexibility enables authors to make multi-media enriched works that would not be possible in a traditionally published hardcopy book.

Professor Caroline Warman

Professor Caroline Warman is Professor of French Literature and Thought at the University of Oxford, and has written extensively on French literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. 

Caroline's introduction to open access book publishing occurred whilst translating on a project that involved multimedia elements such as musical pieces, and complex linkages within the work – elements that would be impossible to replicate in a hardcopy format. The online format best suited this content's intricate nature, and a positive experience with the publisher, Open Book Publishers (OBP) brought open publishing to Caroline’s attention.  

Open Book Publishers

Open Book Publishers (OBP) is a non-profit, scholar led, fully open access publisher specializing in the Humanities and Social Sciences in the UK. They don't impose charges on authors for making their work open access. Instead, they sustain their publications through library memberships, grants, and the sale of hard copy editions of their books. This scheme is supported by Oxford University.

The positive experience Caroline had with OBP has led to an ongoing partnership. When deciding on the publication of a complex monograph on Diderot, a subject with much of the potential audience in Europe, Caroline had considered a traditional publication that may be more prestigious on its face but would radically limit the works impact and accessibility – and so with the positive experiences of OA publication and its benefits Caroline published this work OA through Open Book Publishers, helping to open it to a global readership.

Denis Diderot 'Rameau's Nephew'

The Atheist's Bible

Caroline Warman co-translated ‘Denis Diderot 'Rameau's Nephew' - 'Le Neveu de Rameau': A Multi-Media Bilingual Edition’, and is the author of ‘The Atheist's Bible: Diderot's 'Éléments de physiologie', both published open access via Open Book Publishers, amongst other works.  

‘Denis Diderot 'Rameau's Nephew' available via Open Book Publishers 

‘The Atheist's Bible: Diderot's 'Éléments de physiologie' available via Open Book Publishers

Academic monographs and edited collections can be expensive, restricting access to a limited number of academic institutions. Research institutions and researchers across the world, especially in the global south, can become locked out from accessing these research outputs. This can be doubly damaging when the research contained in these books is focused on, and co-produced with researchers from, those countries. Open access can democratise access - reaching not only fellow researchers but also government bodies, charitable organizations, and individual scholars who may lack access to traditionally published scholarly works.   

Global Urban Transformations series 

Professor Michael Keith, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society and co-Director of the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities, and Professor Sue Parnell of Bristol University, are co-editors for the Global Urban Transformations series. This series showcases ESRC-funded research compiled from workshops held across the world, in Rio, Quito, Cape Town, Beijing and at Oxford, that brought together leading urban writers. The result of those meetings materialised with two edited collections:  “African Cities and Collaborative Futures: Urban Platforms and Collaborative Logistics” and “Urban Transformations and Public Health in the Emergent City” edited by Michael and Dr Andreza De Souza Santos, Research Associate at the Latin American Centre and Director of Kings’ Brazil Institute (with more works to come). 

Michael and Andreza wished to make this book series open access, to make material available to policy makers and an audience that was global, whilst also being keen to publish with an academic press that offered a full academic publishing cycle and the rigour of full peer-review.   

Manchester University Press  

Manchester University Press (MUP) is a well-established press (founded in 1903) specialising in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Whilst MUP is primarily a publisher of traditionally published books, it has been active supporting and developing Open access (OA) publishing for over a decade and is one of the largest University Press publishers of OA books. MUP has a strong basis in development studies and urban studies, and their academic press offered thoughtful and innovative engagement in considering audiences for the research.    

These books were made OA under a Gold OA model with funding support from the ESRC. Besides the digital open access version there is the option to buy a physical book in hardcopy, an important consideration for the editors. Thanks to open access publication, the reach of this work is expanded beyond those who have access to print edition books or institutional subscriptions to digital copies and can be read widely in the covered regions.