What should prospective authors and editors look for when selecting a publisher for their open access book? The following topics are important to consider. 

Funder Compliance

First and foremost, prospective book authors and editors must comply with any open access requirements set by their research funder/s. Note that funding schemes vary significantly, but all set conditions for open access models, costing, licenses, and timelines. 

When considering publishing in open access with the publisher, authors and editors must consult the publisher in advance for details about the open access services. Aspects to consider include: 

• Fee height: many research funders set upper limits to amounts they will pay towards BPCs/CPCs. Some allow authors/editors to match grant funding with other sources of funding to cover BPCs/CPCs that exceed this bandwidth; others do not. 
• Open access model, for edited volumes in particular: Many research funders will only cover CPCs if the entire edited volume will be published in open access and can demand testimony of that in advance. Research funders in general only cover BPCs/CPCs for immediate open access (not for delayed).  
   

Copyright and Rights retention

Copyright is the exclusive right to make a work public and reproduce it. Copyright over a manuscript resides with the author; in order to get the work published, they must give permission to a publisher. This can be done in several ways: 

• Transfer of copyright: all rights move permanently from the author to the publisher. The author irreversibly loses all control and ownership of the work.
• Exclusive license to publish: the author grants the publisher unlimited use rights, and excludes with that license all and any other party form using the work. Note that an exclusive license also works against the author, who must therefore ask permission from the license-holding publisher if they want to reuse their own work. 
• Non-exclusive license to publish: the author grants the publisher the rights to certain, specified use of the work. Use beyond these specifications is not permitted. The author remains in control of copyright, and may give additional licenses to the same, or other parties for the same, or other use of the work. 
   

Authors are strongly recommended to not transfer copyright because this is irreversible. Authors should give licenses instead, and a non-exclusive license is heavily preferable. If an exclusive license cannot be avoided, which may be the case in book publishing, authors are urged to include exceptions in the license agreement for their specific reuse of the work (for instance in a translation, or use in education).

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