Below are listed just a few broad-spectrum publishers; please be aware that there are other subject-specific Open Access publishers.
University open access ePresses
Cambridge University Press launched an Open Access Monograph Publishing Service in April 2015. All of their usual publishing standards and services continue to apply and the monographs are made freely available online through a Creative Commons license.
Luminos Publishing is an open access publishing program for monographs from the University of California Open Press. The business model is a partnership where costs are shared between all parties who benefit from publication - the author, institution, publisher and libraries. Monographs are published under a Creative Commons licence.
MUP Open Monograph is an initiative from Manchester University Press (a founding member of the OAPEN project). For a fee authors have peer review, professional copy editing, design and typesetting, the publication of eBook versions and the option of a printed version.
Open Humanities Press collaborates with the University of Michigan Library (MPublishing) and uses the OMP software. Scholars work on book series and act as editors, select the manuscripts and oversee the series. The monographs are then published in open access in HTML and in most cases the PDF is also freely available. Print and electronic editions are sold at reasonable prices to cover the production costs, pay author royalties and to subsidise other titles. Open Humanities Press explores new modes of publishing and peer review and leverages technology to create new forms of monographs, including their Living Books About Life series.
Athabasca University Press (AU Press) is the first scholarly press to be established by a Canadian university in the twenty-first century. The press disseminates knowledge and research through open access digital journals and monographs, as well as through new electronic media. One of their mandates is to publish innovative and experimental works (in both fiction and non-fiction) that challenge established canons, subjects, and formats.
Open access monograph publishers
Open Book Publishers are aiming to become the primary hub for free peer-reviewed research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Books are published in hardback, paperback, pdf and ebook editions, but they also include a free online edition that can be read via our website, or embedded anywhere. The website produces online supplementary material, including extra chapters, reviews, links, image galleries and other digital resources — these can be found on the individual product page for each book.
Commercial publishers offering an open access option
Palgrave Open is a model proposed by Palgrave Macmillan, one of the largest traditional publishers of monographs in the humanities and social sciences. The 28 January 2013 announcement says – “Palgrave Open content will be freely available and searchable via Palgrave Macmillan’s website or award-winning ebook platform, Palgrave Connect” (it is not clear if that means it is findable through general search engines). The fee covers editing, production, marketing and long-term preservation.
Brill announced on 19 August 2013 they were extending Brill Open, its Open Access model, to include books – monographs and edited volumes. Available to authors only upon acceptance of their manuscript for publication. This requires a positive outcome of the peer review process and Brill’s editorial decision making. Authors retain copyright of their work in exchange for a Book Publication Charge (BPC).
SpringerOpen charge an upfront fee at the beginning of the publication process. The eBook is freely available and: “in addition to this free electronic version, a print edition is offered for those who still wish to buy a printed book. The open access eBook is automatically included in Springer’s eBook Collections at no additional cost.”
Note: The information supplied in these pages is based on the pages supplied by the Australian Open Access Support Group - and this assistance is gratefully acknowledged.