cOAlition S recently issued a statement with 5 recommendations to achieve open access publication of academic monographs, book chapters, edited editions and other long-form works. Originally known for its plan to convert journal publications to open access, cOAlition S principles issued in 2018 recognized the importance of research dissemination through books, especially for disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.
Advocacy and support for OA books is growing. Some of the agencies within cOAlition S’ European research funders have issued book policies, and the statement recognizes important existing OA book infrastructure components, such as the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) and the OA Books Network. The recommendations are that:
- all books should be published openly,
- authors/institutions should retain intellectual property rights/copyright,
- Creative Commons licenses should be applied,
- embargoes, if required, should be as short as possible and no longer than 12 months, and
- cOAlition S funders should financially support the publication of open access books with dedicated arrangements.
These recommendations will be followed by implementation guidelines which will account for the varying needs of book publishers.
