What happens to a book you funded, what your research office receives, and what we will and will not accept in exchange for support.
Compliance, Confirmed in Writing
Publication with the Press meets the open-access conditions that apply to books. In the United States and Canada the public-access policies of the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Tri-Agency councils reach journal articles and do not extend to monographs or edited volumes. Where a funder does set conditions on long-form work, as UKRI, Wellcome, Horizon Europe and the ERC do, the version of record is published openly on the day of publication with no embargo, the deposits the award requires are made, and where the terms require a licence other than the default the book is published under that licence. Compliance with the terms of an award is the responsibility of the grant holder. The Press confirms the position for a specific award in writing before an author signs.
Before an author signs, we read the terms of their specific award and confirm compliance in writing. Where a funder's terms are unusual, we would rather hear about it at proposal stage than at publication.
The REF 2029 open-access policy applies to journal articles and conference contributions with an ISSN. It does not apply to monographs, book chapters or scholarly editions. The REF's initial decisions provide for a long-form requirement in the exercise after REF 2029, implemented from 1 January 2029.
Reporting and Metadata
We register and supply metadata in the forms research offices and reporting systems use.
- Funder and grant identifiers registered through Crossref's Open Funder Registry.
- ORCID iDs for every author, editor and contributor.
- ROR identifiers for institutional affiliations.
- DOIs at book and chapter level, registered with Crossref.
- Open ONIX metadata for import into your CRIS or repository.
- Usage reports twice a year for the life of the book (downloads and views by format, chapter-level breakdown, geographic distribution) on a COUNTER-conformant basis where applicable.
Formal quotations, VAT documentation and compliance statements are supplied to finance and research offices.
Working with Institutional Open-Access Funds
Many universities hold central open-access funds, block grants or library publishing budgets that cover books. Where such a fund is in place:
- We invoice the institution directly, in any currency.
- The charge can be split across more than one payer, which is common for edited volumes where contributors hold different awards.
- We invoice on acceptance of the complete manuscript rather than at contract.
Supporting a Subject Area or a Series
We are open to funders and institutions supporting a series, a subject area, or a defined number of titles, particularly in fields where open-access book publishing is least developed and where the readers who most need the work are least able to buy it.
The terms on which we would do that are these:
- No editorial conditions. Support may not carry any influence over which books are published, who reviews them, or what they conclude. The Advisory Board decides, and it is not told who paid.
- Full disclosure. Any subvention supporting a book is stated in the book.
- No right of review before publication. A funder does not see a manuscript before its readers do.
- No exclusivity over the subject. Supporting a series does not buy the right to be the only voice in it.
Why we are inflexible about this
What the Evidence Looks Like
Springer Nature's 2017 comparison of its own open and non-open books found open titles received roughly seven times more chapter downloads in the first year, 50 per cent more citations over four years, and ten times more online mentions over three. It is publisher-produced and correlational; the effect is nonetheless large and consistent with findings elsewhere.
The geographic breakdown in the usage reports shows where a book is read, including countries whose libraries would not have bought a closed edition.
Contact
Research offices, library open-access teams, funding bodies and institutions considering supporting a list: queries@bassi.foundation.