Overview of Open Access Models for eBooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Open Access book publishing in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) is on the rise. Initiatives are emerging on an international scale, ranging from providing Open Access to single titles to full-fledged Open Access book publishers. Most of these efforts, however, are still in the experimental phase, testing and developing new publishing and business models as well as tracking customer behavior both online and offline. Nonetheless, some trends and patterns are discernable. This research has looked at a variety of initiatives and specifically at their publishing models, business models and publishing processes. Within these divisions, special attention has been paid to the nature of the content, the level of Open Access provided, the peer review and copyright policies and, finally, the strategies of collaboration. The Open Access book publishing initiatives analyzed in this report have been classified according to their publishing models, they have thus been categorized into commercial publishers, presses established by societies or academies, presses established by libraries, library-university collaborations, university presses, presses established by academics and press-commercial publisher partnerships.