Open Access Business Models

The Open Access Business Models Working Group (WG) looks into business models currently used by open access publishers, with a focus on the situation of European publishers in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) and with particular attention to books, as part of the OPERAS Open Access Books Special Interest Group (SIG).

Objective of the Working Group

The primary objective of the WG is to focus on sustainable business models for open access SSH publishing. This includes understanding the costs of running an OA publishing operation as well as price transparency and revenue infrastructure models required to
support open access funding.
Much work has been undertaken in the area of business models for journals. However, up until recently, OA books have had a relatively slow start. In the area of policy, there are now a number of existing and emerging OA monograph policies, which are leading to an increased focus on business models.
Given this dynamic landscape, a more in-depth understanding is needed of European monograph publishers’ current business models for open access, their challenges, and their views on how the sustainability of open access monographs could be improved.
This context led to the formation of a Business Models SIG in 2021, with a particular focus on books. In 2025, the SIG evolved into one of three WGs within the wider OA books SIG within OPERAS. In particular, the WG wishes to understand more about how the SSH publishing community applies or could apply innovative and collaborative models for open access books, and what issues it encounters when dealing with them. We further want to understand what challenges publishers faced when engaging with or thinking about engaging in innovative and collaborative models for OA books. Are there enough funds, enough human resources? Are relevant infrastructures in place? What kind of support is needed?
In the longer term, the OA Business Models WG hopes to provide a more comprehensive insight into how OPERAS can make a tangible change and best support the community in building sustainable paths of transition towards collaborative models for open access.

A brief history

In 2018, the group published a white paper on Business Models for Open Access. The report described the landscape of open access publishing at the time, and identified multiple approaches to open access publishing. It looked at the business models adopted by OPERAS members as well as emerging models in the USA and at a national level in some European countries. The paper identified a large range of models, often particular to individual countries, institutions or circumstances, and with little overall cohesion and no central sources of funding.
The group also fed into the COPIM/OPERAS landscape study on academic libraries and open access books in Europe (Morka & Gatti, 2021).
This was followed by a further survey in 2021 with two core aims:

To further our understanding of the scholarly publishing landscape and of the challenges that publishers face in the context of publishing OA monographs.

To identify main trends (including opportunities and challenges) and the knowledge of collaborative funding and infrastructure models in OA publishing in SSH.

Early observations from the preliminary analysis of the findings were published in 2021, followed by a more extensive analysis of three main areas: collaboration, funding, and support (published in 2023). As part of its transition from a SIG to a WG, members are currently working on defining the
objectives that will focus our collective efforts into the future.

Publications

OA Business Models White Paper (2018)

The white paper on Business Models for Open Access proposes that there is no single ideal business model for Open Access that can be adopted as standard. It describes the current landscape in which there are multiple approaches to OA publishing, many of which are adopted by OPERAS members to suit their particular circumstances, although the APC and BPC models still predominate especially among commercial publishers. The paper describes the business models adopted by members both from the point of view of publishers, and of service providers such as Knowledge Unlatched, as well as looking at models emerging elsewhere such as in the USA and at national level in some European countries, where interesting collaborative approaches are being undertaken. The paper analyses the pros and cons of different models, and concludes with some suggestions for ways of bringing greater stability and sustainability to Open Access publishing models.

Lara Speicher, Lorenzo Armando, Margo Bargheer, Martin Paul Eve, Sven Fund, Delfim Leão, Max Mosterd, Frances Pinter, & Irakleitos Souyioultzoglou. (2018). OPERAS Open Access Business Models White Paper. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1323708

Collaborative models for OA book publishers, Version 1 (2021)

This white paper gives a first analysis on the challenges that European presses see ahead regarding collaborative models for funding and infrastructure. It outlines a number of observations for further work and gives a clear direction for further analysis of the survey data.

Stone, Graham, Błaszczyńska, Marta, Lebon, Chloé, Morka, Agata, Mosterd, Tom, Mounier, Pierre, Proudman, Vanessa, Speicher, Lara, & Melinščak Zlodi, Iva. (2021). Collaborative models for OA book publishers (1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5494731

Collaborative models for OA book publishers, Version 2 (2023)

This white paper updates and expands on the 2021 white paper. Key findings in this white paper have been grouped into three main areas: collaboration, funding, and support.

The report found that, although not opposed to the idea, a majority of presses do not engage in collaboration, specifically collaborative models for shared infrastructure, mainly due to the lack of knowledge and information, or perceived lack of need. This indicates that, for OA books, we are still at the early stage of the adoption curve for collaborative shared infrastructure.

In terms of funding, most publishers perceive themselves to be somewhat sustainable. For institutional publishers, parent organisations are crucial as providers of financial or non-monetary support of OA. In addition, most publishers stress the need to have more resources and rely on more than one funding source, including grants and subsidies.

The report found that awareness-raising and targeted support and training could be used to engage the presses but further incentivisation may be required to encourage publishers to collaborate more widely.

Błaszczyńska, M., Melinščak Zlodi, I., Morka, A., Proudman, V., & Stone, G. (2023). Collaborative models for OA book publishers (Version 2.0) (2.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7780754

Contact Point

Joe Deville (joe@openbookcollective.org), Open Book Collective / Lancaster University

Iva Melinscak Zlodi (imelinsc@ffzg.hr), University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Working Group Members

Joe Deville – Open Book Collective/Lancaster University

Joe Deville is Professor in Science and Technology Studies at Lancaster University and Managing Director of the Open Book Collective. He is currently leading the Copim Open Book Futures project, which is developing a fairer, more sustainable and more diverse ecosystem for the production, funding, and preservation of Open Access books. He is also a co-founder and co-editor of Mattering Press, a Diamond Open Access book publisher and UK-registered charity.

Iva Melinscak Zlodi – University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Iva Melinščak Zlodi is a scholarly communication librarian at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences where she leads the development of the institutional OA book platform FF Open Press. She has experience with initiating and developing the Croatian national journals platform Hrčak and repository network Dabar, and is currently preoccupied with launching the Croatian initiative for open scholarly books. She is the chair of the Board of Directors of SPARC Europe.

Graham Stone – OAPEN

Graham is an independent researcher in Hessen, Germany. He has over 30 years experience in the scholarly communication sector. From 2016-2024 he led Jisc’s programme of activity in the OA monographs and Diamond OA space. He was an active member of the PALOMERA project, which sought to align OA books policy across the European Research Area. He worked on the DIAMAS project on Diamond OA for institutional publishing (IP). He led a number of work packages and tasks within the project, including the IP dataset, country analysis reports and a toolsuite articles for institutional publishers, now part of the European Diamond Capacity Hub. Graham represented the UK at OPERAS, the European Research Infrastructure for the development of open scholarly communication in SSH. He played a pivotal role as a member of the Executive Assembly, liaising with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as part of the General Assembly. He was a work package leader in the OPERAS PLUS project preparing OPERAS transition to an ERIC. He also led the OA Business Models Special Interest Group and helped prepare the ground for the UK National Node.

Frank Manista – Jisc, OA Business Models SIG Coordinator

Frank Manista works as the policy and engagement manager in the HE-Research team at Jisc. He engages with teams at Jisc who participate in EU-wide projects, such as EOSC, the Knowledge Exchange, and Operas. He helps ensure that the different engagements are aware of one another to promote collaboration between Jisc and entities outside of the UK.

Andrea Hacker – University of Bern

Dr. Andrea Hacker joined the Open Science Team of the University Library Bern in 2018 where she focuses on issues of financing Open Access and building new infrastructure for Open Access content. This includes Bern Open Publishing (BOP) which recently began to publish books. She previously worked at Heidelberg University as Managing Editor of two book series and a journal and significantly contributed to the establishment of heiUP (Heidelberg University Publishing). She holds a PhD in Slavic Studies from the University of California Los Angeles.

Dirk Pieper – Bielefeld University

Dirk Pieper is the Deputy Director of Bielefeld University Library Bielefeld. With regard to books, he was one of the founders of the community-based Open Access transformation model “transcript Open Library political science” in 2018. He is a member of the steering committee of Bielefeld University Press and OAPEN Advisory Board. With his team he is currently working on the EU project “Policy Alignment of Open Access Monographs in the European Research Area” (PALOMERA).

Fulvio Guatelli – Firenze University Press

Fulvio Guatelli, PhD, Director of Firenze University Press (www.fupress.com), was seduced in his youth by the philosophy of Bertrand Russell, the philosophy of language and logic. With the approach of a philosopher he took an interest in the mechanisms of academic publishing and the development of new criteria for assessment and dissemination of science. Since 2006 he has been working at Firenze University Press where he has been able to experiment pioneering activities in the field of academic publishing. He has conceived the project “FUP Scientific Cloud for Books” in which the new digital book is characterized by a deep interaction between content and metadata capable of ensuring high indexes of dissemination and impact of monographs. Publications: https://www.unifi.it/p-doc2-2017-000000-G-3f2b3a30382a2f-0.html.

Gabriela Manista, IBL-PAN

Coordinator of the Digital Humanities Centre, Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN). Lawyer and PhD candidate at the Faculty of Information Journalism and Bibliology, University of Warsaw. Graduate of the Entrepreneurship & intrapreneurship project management postgraduate programme at Sorbonne University, created for 30 early-career researchers from four European universities.

Hanna Lahdenperä – Federation of Finnish Learned Societies

Hanna Lahdenperä, PhD, has a background in trade publishing and is now a Senior Expert at the Open Science and Research Secretariat of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies. The Secretariat supports the Finnish Open Science and Research Coordination, and Lahdenperä specialises in open access and responsible evaluation. She also participates in national work on an OS funding model.

Ilmari Jauhiainen – Federation of Finnish Learned Societies

Ilmari Jauhiainen holds a PhD in philosophy, with expertise in German Idealism. He works as a Senior Expert in the Open Science and Research Secretariat of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies. The Secretariat as a whole is responsible for organising the Finnish Open Science and Research Coordination, and Jauhiainen is specialised in the field of Open Education. He is also currently coordinating a national working group for creating a funding model for Open Science.

Iva Melinščak Zlodi – University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Jean-François Lutz – Université de Lorraine

Jean-François Lutz, Université de Lorraine (France), is in charge of the Research Support services within the Library of the University of Lorraine. He is particularly interested in the issues of open publishing and of the funding of Open Science initiatives. In relation to the first field, he is co-leader of the Open Scientific Edition expertise group within the French Open Science Committee. He is also a member of the open access expert group within Knowledge Exchange where he co-manages the Task & Finish group on Alternative publishing platforms. In relation to Open Science funding, Jean-Francois Lutz is a member of the Board of the French National Open Science Fund and of SCOSS.

Johan Rooryck – Plan S

Kathy-Ann Fletcher – Abertay University

Kathy-Ann Fletcher is a lecturer, researcher at Abertay University with nearly two decades experience as a marketing professional with a passion for consumer behaviour and digital technologies. She got a masters in International Marketing Management and a PhD in Business focused on social media brand communities from the University of East London. As a marketing communications specialist and project manager within the communications industry, Kathy has created digital, traditional and integrated communications strategies for a range of industries including, tourism, manufacturing, financial and technological companies. Her experience includes communications, strategy, account management, project management, and market research. Currently, Kathy teaches on digital marketing modules and is the programme leader for the MSc in Digital Marketing and e-Business.

Lara Speicher – UCL Press

Lara Speicher is Head of Publishing at UCL Press, the UK’s first fully open access university press. Lara joined UCL in 2013 and worked with colleagues to set up UCL Press from scratch. UCL Press has grown rapidly in that time and now publishes 60 scholarly monographs a year and has a portfolio of 15 diamond open access journals. It has also recently kickstarted its open access textbooks publishing programme. UCL Press has achieved over 8 million downloads of its outputs from around the world. Lara has worked in publishing for her entire career and previously held senior editorial roles at British Library Publishing and BBC Books. She has served on a number of publisher and association Boards including OASPA, and is currently a member of the UKRI Open Access Policy Stakeholder Forum.

Lorenzo Armando – Lexis

Lorenzo Armando has worked in publishing since the 1980s. With the company Lexis that he founded in 1998 (now Lexis Compagnia Editoriale in Torino) and of which he is currently general manager, he provides services to Italian and foreign publishers, operates as a publisher through several brands (Rosenberg & Sellier, Celid, Accademia University Press, Kermes) mainly in the academic and nonfiction fields, and participates in the Italian Cultural Content Industry (ICCI) association. He is also a founder and director of IT Publishing (an Italian publishing export project) and president Of the TPF association organizing The Publishing Fair. He is currently national vice president of the Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE), as the representative of small Italian publishers.

Lucy Barnes – Open Book Publishers

Lucy Barnes is Senior Editor and Outreach Coordinator at Open Book Publishers, a leading independent non-profit Open Access book publisher. She does outreach work for COPIM and is on the board of the ScholarLed collective and the OA Books Toolkit. You can find her on Twitter @alittleroad.

Magdalena Wnuk, IBL-PAN

Magdalena Wnuk, PhD. Open Science Specialist in the Digital Humanist Center. Academic researcher, policy analyst and project manager. She defended her thesis, concerning long-term adaptation of the 1980s. Polish migrants in Austria, Sweden and Italy. She conducts interdisciplinary research and combines methods of cultural anthropology, sociology and history. Author of “Kierunek Zachód, przystanek emigracja”, published in “FNP Monographs” series. In CHC she coordinates actions of OPERAS-PL as well as participates in the OPERAS projects. For 7 years (2013-2019) she worked for a Polish CSO Association 61, as an analyst and project coordinator in online open data projects.

Margo Bargheer – University of Goettingen

Margo is a trained graphic designer and holds a Master in Social Anthropology and Media Studies. She is head of the team for Electronic Publishing at the University Library Göttingen. The team’s service portfolio includes the university’s repositories, publication data management, along with open access and open science consulting. At the heart of the service portfolio is Göttingen University Press that publishes open access books and Diamond open access journals. Margo heads the board of the Association of European University Presses and is member of the sounding board of the working group of German-speaking university presses. On behalf of OPERAS, Margo currently coordinates the EU-funden CRAFT-OA project that seeks to improve Diamond open access journal publishing in Europe and beyond.

Niels-Oliver Walkowski – University of Luxembourg

Niels-Oliver Walkowski is a research scientist for digital literacy and research at the University of Luxembourg. He is head of Melusina Press, a Diamond Open Access publisher for titles from the humanities, social sciences and education. His research includes topics like the re-design of publication formats in e-Science environments, cinemetrics and digital research infrastructure among others. You can find him on Mastodon @melusinapress@fedihum.org / @cutuchiqueno@mastodon.social.

Océane Le Bourhis – Presses universitaires de Rennes – PUR

Océane Le Bourhis est éditrice de formation. Elle travaille actuellement aux Presses universitaires de Rennes où elle est chargée du suivi et de la valorisation du projet SO PUR, «La science ouverte avec les Presses universitaires de Rennes ». Océane Le Bourhis trained as a publisher. She currently works at Presses universitaires de Rennes, where she is responsible for monitoring and promoting the SO PUR project, “Open science with Presses universitaires de Rennes”.

Sami Syrjämäki – Finnish Federation of Learned Societies (TSV)

Sami Syrjämäki, PhD., serves as the Head of Publications at the Finnish Federation of Learned Societies (TSV). In this role, he oversees publication services, including the management of open-access platforms for journals and books, provided by the federation to learned societies. Dr. Syrjämäki actively participates in various national and international expert and policy groups focused on scholarly publishing and open access.

Sharla Lair – LYRASIS

Sharla Lair serves as a Senior Strategist of Open Access and Scholarly Communication Initiatives at LYRASIS. Since 2015, Sharla’s role at LYRASIS has been to negotiate the best pricing and licensing terms for the products and services available to LYRASIS members as well as seek out new programs that demonstrate transformative influence in the scholarly communication landscape. She is particularly interested in better understanding the dynamics around making scholarly publishing more sustainable through explorations in community building, open access, and building more equitable and inclusive revenue models. Sharla serves on several working groups and committees and is Chair of the Open Access eBook Usage Data Trust Board of Trustees.

Vanessa Proudman – SPARC Europe

Vanessa Proudman is Director of SPARC Europe, where she is working to make Open the default in Europe. Vanessa has 20 years of international experience working on Open Access, Open Science, Open Culture and Open Education with many leading universities and libraries worldwide from over 20 countries. She is working to increase and strengthen international, national and regional OS and Open Education policy-making and practice in Europe. Research and knowledge exchange are her vehicles to inform, connect and advocate for change in these areas. Prior to SPARC Europe, she worked at Tilburg University on various national and international projects, was programme manager at Europeana and led a dept on information and IT at a UN-European region research institute in Vienna for over 10 years.

Yannick Legré, OPERAS

Yannick Legré is Secretary General of OPERAS and is based in Brussels. In the role of Secretary General, he is responsible for the daily management of OPERAS AISBL, to support OPERAS’ members in developing the OPERAS National Nodes and liaising with the ministries and, to propel OPERAS forward on its path to becoming an even more well-established and influential Research Infrastructure in Europe and eventually an ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium). Yannick boasts over two decades of experience leading international organisations and pan-European Research Infrastructures. He holds a Master of Science in Information Technology (MScIT), a degree in Law (LL.L) and is a certified expert and auditor in FitSM and ISO/IEC 27000. Over the last 20+ years, Yannick has been involved in more than 60 projects in the areas of e-Infrastructures, healthcare and biomedical research, as well as biodiversity.

Yves Picard – Presses universitaires de Rennes – PUR

Since his arrival at PUR (France) in 2008, Yves Picard has taken the initiative of putting all the journals (currently 11) and books (over 2,500) online. He has carried out digitisation campaigns and implemented the Apsed XML-TEI tools at the PUR, adapting them to the Presses’ large editorial flow and the various production channels. He has also been involved in a number of innovations (e.g. with Knowledge Unlatched) and OpenEdition working groups (e.g. on altmetrics). He is involved in the REGOSO and OPTIMICE projects with the “maison des sciences de l’homme” in Brittany. He has also taken part in the work of the Comité de suivi de l’édition scientifique (Scientific Publishing Monitoring Committee), set up by the the Digital Republic Act (co-supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research). Education and Research). In addition, he carries out extensive monitoring work on digital publishing issues and is a lecturer at the University of Rennes (“Book professions” professional degree course, Libraries option). He has run several courses on digital books at Urfist (Rennes).