How do I finance an open-access book?
- Many academic institutions have established open access publication funds for books. The funds help authors to finance the BPCs charged by publishers. Such funds are operated, for example, by Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Technische Universität Berlin. Please inform yourself about the funding conditions of your institution.
- To be eligible for support from these funds, the publisher must submit a transparent calculation that clearly shows the share of open access-indexed costs.
- Take advantage of funding programs offered by foundations, research funding agencies, and professional societies.
- Libraries also try to find alternative funding models for BPCs. They participate in crowdfunding models and, in some cases, sign up for institutional memberships. If publishing authors belong to an institution that maintains an institutional membership with an open access publisher, the publisher covers all or part of the publication costs.
- Some publishers offer discounts for early career researchers. Ask about them!
- Academic, noncommercial publishers usually do not charge BPCs but provide a wide range of basic services free of charge to members of their institutions. Certain additional services are charged for. There again, the publication funds mentioned above may apply.
The OAPEN database has published a list of possible funding sources for open-access books.