The Press makes a single open-access charge on acceptance for publication. There is no charge for submission or for peer review.
Open Access Charges
The charge covers the whole process through to publication and permanent hosting: peer review honoraria, copy-editing, typesetting, indexing, cover design, metadata and identifier registration, accessible file production, hosting, deposit and preservation.
The standard charge is USD 6,500 for a monograph or edited volume of up to 120,000 words, inclusive of notes. For works longer than that, the charge increases by USD 250 for each additional 6,000 words, and illustrations, figures, tables and music examples count as 250 words each. All charges are exclusive of value added tax, goods and services tax and any similar sales or excise taxes, which are added to the invoiced charge at the prevailing rate where they apply. The figure for a given book is stated in the contract offer and does not change afterwards. It is invoiced on acceptance of the complete manuscript, not at contract; it may be invoiced in any currency and may be divided between more than one payer, as is common for edited volumes.
Authors in the Global South
A discount of 40 per cent on the open-access charge is available to authors whose institution is in the Global South. It is the largest reduction the Press makes. For a standard monograph the charge falls from USD 6,500 to USD 3,900. Where a book has more than one author, the discount applies if any one of them is eligible.
Eligibility follows the country of the institution rather than the author's nationality or where the degrees were taken. The Press uses the public measures the major publisher schemes use, the World Bank income classifications, the Human Development Index, and the country lists maintained by Research4Life and EIFL. Write from your institutional address at proposal stage and the position will be confirmed in writing before you sign a contract.
Open access matters most where the alternative cannot be bought. Every book the Press publishes is free to read and download anywhere in the world from the day it appears, with no subscription, no institutional login and no interlibrary loan request, which counts for most in universities whose libraries cannot buy monographs at the rate their researchers need them. An author-pays model that only well-funded universities can afford would rebuild on the writing side the barrier that open access removes on the reading side. The discount is how the Press keeps that from happening.
An eligible author who still cannot meet the reduced charge should say so at proposal stage. A further reduction or a full waiver may be agreed.
Other Discounts and Waivers
Eligibility for any reduction is settled by the editorial office after acceptance. Where an author qualifies for more than one, the largest applies rather than the sum. Peer reviewers and the Advisory Board are not told whether an author has asked for a waiver or received one.
Early Career Researchers
A discount of 25 per cent on the open-access charge is available to early career researchers. An early career researcher is an author publishing a first or second book who is within six years of a first academic appointment, excluding career breaks such as family care or health. Where a book has more than one author, the discount applies if any of the authors is eligible. Tell your editor if this applies to you.
Discretionary Waivers
Authors without access to a departmental, grant or institutional fund should say so at proposal stage. A reduction, a staged payment or a full waiver may be agreed, case by case, wherever the author is based. The question is considered separately from the editorial decision, and after it.
Sources of Funding
Funding is typically departmental, grant-driven, or institutional: a research allowance held by the author’s department or college, a research grant on which publication costs are eligible, or a university open-access fund administered by the library. Several major funders operate dedicated funds for open-access books.
| Funder | What is available |
|---|---|
| UKRI | A dedicated open-access fund for monographs, book chapters and edited collections, opened in November 2023 and accessed through eligible UK research organisations. Applies to in-scope outputs published from 1 January 2024. |
| Wellcome | Funding for open-access fees for books and chapters by grant holders. |
| Horizon Europe and the ERC | Open-access costs for long-text publications are eligible against the grant. |
| Leverhulme Trust | Open-access publication charges are an allowable cost during the lifetime of a grant. |
Authors holding an award from any of these should consult their institution’s research office or library open-access team. Formal quotations and tax documentation are available for research offices.
Editorial Services
Thorough editing, general proofreading and indexing are available as paid services on any manuscript, before submission or for a manuscript going to another publisher. That work is quoted and invoiced separately from the open-access charge, and commissioning it is not a condition of submitting a proposal.
Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions are taken without knowledge of an author’s funding. The Advisory Board sees proposals, reviewer reports and author responses; it is not told whether or how the charge would be met. No charge is made for submission, for peer review, or on a decline, and no charge is added after contract for images or colour.