"SPARC Europe and OAPEN - Thee initiatives to bridge the gap and promote OA Monograph Publishing" by Astrid van Wesenbeeck, Executive Director, OAPEN Conference, Berlin, 25 February 2011

Despite the increased options for enabling public access to information, the availability of academic books remains fragmented and limited. There is a lack of balance in the availability of academic literature between articles and books. The reduced purchase of monographs by libraries has resulted in a significant fall in the average circulation of academic books, threatening the sustainability of traditional monograph publishing. As a result, the dissemination and accessibility of academic information has become inadequate, especially in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS).

By publishing Open Access, an effort is being made to improve the dissemination and accessibility of academic information. The increased focus on Open Access to the results of academic research have so far primarily concerned academic articles and there has been very little attention for academic books.

The aim of OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks), a European project launched in September 2008, is to put right the current deficiencies in terms of Open Access for academic books and by extension also for scholarly communication in the Humanities and Social Sciences. 

OAPEN has developed a model for OA book publishing and a platform with services for academic publishers and libraries. 

In the coming years OAPEN and SPARC Europe will together continue to promote OA publishing as an efficient and effective model for academic books.

Three proposed collaborative projects are designed to help make the transition towards OA book publishing and bridge the current gap with OA articles:

1. Explore feasibility for the development of a Directory of Open Access Book Publishers

This project aims at determining requirements for publishers to qualify as OA academic book publishers and set up a certification procedure. 

2. Target Book Funding Programs

This project aims at promoting frameworks for OA for books as an effective and efficient form of publishing and dissemination (increased number of disseminated copies at low costs). Therefore funders are encouraged to include and promote OA book publishing services as an accepted publication model in their funding schemes (and to adapt calculation and application forms etc). 

3. Target existing OA Publication Funds

The project aims at introducing the concept of OA book publishing into OA publishing funds of funders and institutions, outlining possible policies and procedures, and  collecting and evaluating current practices. Existing funds often concentrate on articles and therefore the majority of funds is spent on OA publishing in Science, Technology and Medicine. Including books into these programmes would strengthen the HSS in a significant way.