Open access is no longer confined to journal articles and conference papers. There is now a range of options for making academic books and chapters open access, as well as other types of long-form publication such as scholarly monographs and edited collections.
Below you will find details of what some publishers offer in terms of gold open access (making your final, published version open access from the publisher's website from publication) and green open access/self-archiving (making the accepted manuscript open access via a repository such as Pure).
It is important to note that where a publisher offers gold open access there is likely to be a Book Processing Charge (BPC) or Chapter Processing Charge to pay (CPC) (plus VAT). These costs may be covered by an external funder. If you are acknowledging Wellcome funding, please see the information on their webpages. Long-form publications published from 1st January 2024 will be in-scope for the new UKRI policy and funds will be available for eligible authors.
If you would like to make your book or book chapter open access via Pure repository or garner more information on open access monographs please contact the Open Research Team with any questions you might have.
| Publisher | Gold OA option (open access from the publisher's website, immediately upon publication). | Green OA option (open access through a repository such as Pure) |
| Bloomsbury Academic | Available for short monographs, monographs, handbooks and edited collections. | Single book chapter or author’s own chapter Accepted manuscript/publisher version, 6 month embargo. |
| Brill | Available for books and individual book chapters. More details here. | Part of book/monograph Permission must be requested |
| Cambridge University Press | Available for monographs | Single book chapter Accepted manuscript/publisher version, 6 month embargo |
| Edinburgh University Press | Available for monographs and individual book chapters. | Whole monograph PDF proof on institutional repository. 36 month embargo. |
| Edward Elgar Publishing | Available for books | Single book chapter Submitted manuscript, 6 month embargo |
| Elsevier | Scope currently under investigation with publisher. |
Elsevier's most recent update: Authors wishing to self-archive book chapters can continue to reach out to Global Rights to seek the relevant permissions. The Global Rights team may be contacted using this link. |
| Liverpool University Press | Available for books and individual book chapters | Whole monograph Original manuscript, 24 month embargo to non-commercial, non-profit platform (e.g. Pure ) |
| Manchester University Press | Available for monographs, edited volumes and individual book chapters. | Single book chapter Accepted manuscript, 18 month embargo |
| Oxford University Press | Available for monographs | Single book chapter Accepted manuscript - embargo length varies by subject/output type |
| Palgrave Macmillan | Available for academic books and individual book chapters. | |
| Sage | Available for monographs. | Accepted manuscript Details and embargoes vary by output type. |
| Taylor & Francis / Routledge | Available for books and individual book chapters. | Single book chapter Accepted Manuscript, 18 month embargo for Humanities and Social Sciences (12 months for STEM). |
| UCL Press | Available for monographs, short monographs, edited volumes, and textbooks. | N/A – Open Access Publisher |
| White Rose University Press | Available for monographs. | N/A – Open Access Publisher |
For more publishers please see the maintained list of what publishers allow in terms of open access to chapters and books.
Books and book chapters were outside the scope of the open access requirements for REF 2021. It is however, likely, that there will be an open access requirement for books and book chapters submitted to any future research evaluation exercise. It is expected that any open access requirements for books and book chapters in any future REF cycle will be more flexible than the requirements for journal articles and should not apply retrospectively to titles published before any new policy is announced.