CoNOSC Members tackle the challenge of Open Access books
On 25 February 2025, representatives from 18 countries gathered online for the CoNOSC Members Meeting facilitated by SPARC Europe. This session took a closer look at the evolving landscape of Open Access (OA) books, with a timely focus on policymaking in light of the newly concluded EU-funded PALOMERA Project.
To guide the discussion, SPARC Europe invited Niels Stern (OAPEN) and Ursula Raber (OPERAS), who shared key insights from PALOMERA. They introduced a set of practical policy resources developed by the project, including the comprehensive Knowledge Base and a suite of targeted policy recommendations. Stern also outlined the next steps to keep the momentum going: launching an OA Book Policy Forum to deepen engagement with national OA book policymakers.
A central message emerged: national policymakers—particularly research funders and institutions—have a pivotal role in shaping policies that specifically include OA books as part of broader Open Access and Open Science strategies. Yet for such policies to succeed, they must be co-developed with a wide array of stakeholders, including academic libraries, learned societies, publishers, and infrastructure providers.
Are we monitoring OA Books?
One CoNOSC member highlighted a key gap: OA books are often left out of national OA monitoring efforts. Others echoed this concern, noting that a lack of DOIs for all books complicates monitoring. It’s also not always clear which books count—how do we differentiate research monographs from textbooks, for example?
Despite these challenges, the current landscape is far from modest: the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) lists around 100,000 OA titles from a diverse mix of publishers—non-profit and commercial, large and small—demonstrating the growing significance of this format.
Funding, Culture, and Regional Nuance
Some countries reported that while funds for OA books are technically available, uptake has been slow. Participants acknowledged that how OA books are funded—and even how they’re valued—often reflects national or regional publishing cultures. This leads to a variety of distinct approaches and challenges across countries.
It was also reaffirmed that OA monographs are particularly important in the social sciences and humanities (SSH), though not exclusively—20% of OAPEN’s collection comes from STEM disciplines, and titles from multidisciplinary research are on the rise.
Learning from each other and looking ahead
Many CoNOSC members agreed that requiring OA for monographs could significantly expand access to research. Finland shared that developing its own OA book policy has been one of the most technically and financially complex parts of its broader Open Access strategy. Several members are keeping a close eye on the implementation of the UKRI OA book policy as a potential model. A shared concern remains: as long as Book Processing Charges (BPCs) are the main mechanism, progress will remain limited. Sustainable and inclusive funding models are needed.
What about the Green Route?
A question was raised about efforts to support OA books via the green route (e.g. self-archiving in repositories). Stern acknowledged that while green OA is mentioned in funder and publisher policies, it remains uncommon for books—largely due to the length and complexity of the editorial process, which differs significantly from journal articles.
A path forward with PALOMERA
The PALOMERA Project’s stakeholder-specific policy recommendations were seen as a valuable tool to support the next phase of policymaking and practical implementation. CoNOSC members left the meeting better informed about some of the unique challenges and opportunities of OA books, and policymaking service solutions provided by PALOMERA.