For a Change: Let’s Make a Change! OPERAS Survey on Collaborative Models for Open Access Books

The survey has been prolonged and is now open until 14 April!

In 2018 the OPERAS Business Models Special Interest Group published a white paper on Business Models for Open Access. The report described the current landscape in which there are multiple approaches to open access publishing. It looked at the business models adopted by OPERAS members at the time as well as emerging models in the USA and at a national level in some European countries. 

Monographs remain the crucial publishing output in humanities and social sciences (SSH). Therefore, the OPERAS Business Models Special Interest Group is now compiling a second white paper in which we hope to shed light on publishing practices around open access books specifically.

We are launching a survey of publishing organisations throughout Europe to identify and better understand existing and potential business models to support the open access publication of research monographs.

This is where we need the open access book community to step in: we invite you all to share your experiences, your expertise, and your frustrations.

Not another survey…

Yes, we all experience a certain fatigue filling in countless questionnaires and we do realise that saying that this one is different might seem like an overused argument. And yet this survey IS different.

Rather than trying to squeeze as many questions on every possible aspect of open access books as humanly possible in one document, we have decided to take a step back and choose one issue that we found to be the most intriguing in the current open access book landscape.

A recent report from the COPIM project identified a variety of models used for open access books. Alongside these models, this survey puts a special emphasis on the idea of collaboration. The rise of collaborative approaches, relying on sharing of information, funds, and infrastructures has been noted in the recent years, especially in the UK.

OPERAS would like to understand more about how the SSH publishing community applies or could apply collaborative models for open access books, and what issues it encounters when dealing with them.

Collaborate on collaborative models for OA books

We want to understand what challenges you face when engaging with or thinking about engaging in collaborative models for OA books. Are there enough funds, enough human resources, are relevant infrastructures in place? What kind of support is needed?

Your answers to these questions will inform the formulation of recommendations about how to create a sustainable open access book publishing ecosystem within Europe. The survey will help us to gain a more comprehensive insight on how OPERAS can make a tangible change and best support the community in building sustainable paths of transition towards collaborative models for open access books.  

The survey should take a maximum of 50 minutes to complete, but may be significantly shorter. Please complete it by 25 March 2021 (prolonged to 14 April).

We appreciate your contribution!

If you have any further questions, please contact Graham Stone (Graham.Stone[a]jisc.ac.uk). 

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