Research funding bodies
Research funders acknowledge that open access for books is more difficult to achieve, because of the diversity in publishing models and the complex editorial processes. They therefore treat edited volumes and monographs more leniently than journal articles. cOAlition S, which most research funders undersign, strongly recommends that all academic books based on original research be immediate open access, but leaves the specific mandate details up to the discretion of individual member funders.
In general, policies cover four aspects of open access for books:
- Limited application: open access regulations typically apply to peer reviewed monographs, and edited volumes and the chapters in them. Conference collections, critical text editions and reference works may be included in the policy. Books that are (also) intended for a popular audience are always exempted from open access requirements.
- Restrictive licenses: while CC BY is encouraged, funders generally accept more restrictive Creative Commons licenses for open access books (CC BY-NC-ND).
- Accepted embargo and versions: instead of immediate open access upon publication, many funders allow for an embargo period of 6-12 months to make the book openly available in a repository. Some funders require the use of a specific repository; NWO, for instance, requires deposit in OAPEN, to which only OAPEN-affiliated publishers have access. If the Version of Record is not made open, the Author Manuscript version suffices for most, but not all funders.
- Financial support: grant funding may be used to cover publishing costs for books, although often to a maximum amount per BPC/CPC. Funder policies diverge over covering CPCs for chapters in hybrid edited volumes (with a mix of open and closed chapters). Grant funding can only be spent within the duration of the research projects. Because books’ editorial processes may easily extend beyond project timelines, some funders, like NWO, have additional, dedicated grants available for open access books that could not be accosted from the original research grants.
Because funder requirements for books and chapters can vary so widely, prospective authors and editors should consult their specific funder policy in detail before embarking on the publication process.
Institutional policies
University open access policies acknowledge that open access for books is more difficult to achieve than for journal publications, because of the diversity in publishing models, costing schemes and complex editorial processes. The Dutch universities therefore generally encourage making all book-length works openly available as soon as possible; some offer institutional support; but none mandate open access for books.
Note that individual chapters in an edited volume qualify as ‘short works’, which all Dutch universities specify should be made available in the institutional repository after a six-month embargo, via the Taverne-route. All university open access policies can be retrieved via this page.
Funding for open access book publishing might be available at some universities. See for instance the book funds available at the University of Groningen Library (cicle 2025-2027) and at Erasmus University Library.
Some universities also have their own diamond university press, which serve as a home for their authors ad editors. For more information please visit the Netherlands University Presses.
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