Prices of open access publishing vary widely between publishers and therefore it is worth considering who to publish with as this can dramatically affect the cost of publishing.
Grant options for potential OA monograph authors
The Wellcome Trust open access policy includes monographs and book chapters and they have funds designated for the cost of making these open access. Wellcome Trust funded monograph authors should apply directly to the Wellcome Trust for reimbursement of the costs (see FAQ 6).
Open Access monographs costs are considered to be an allowable cost in AHRC grant applications. These may be included as a “Directly Incurred Other Cost” and will need to be fully justified in any new grant application. The Leverhulme Trust also considers open access charges to be a permissible expense, although they must be incurred during the lifecycle of the grant.
The EU/FP7 scheme has a post-publication open access fund, which can be used for monographs as well as journal articles. It can be used by projects for up to two years after the end of the grant. The ERC is working with OAPEN to create a deposit service available for OA monographs resulting from ERC funded research (FP7 and H2020). OAPEN-ERC will collect, host and provide access to books and book chapters resulting from ERC funding in order to maximise their dissemination and impact.
Departments and colleges might be able to provide researchers with support for publishing an Open Access monograph.
Publishing without a grant
Some publishers, for example UCL Press, offer a waiver scheme for Open Access monographs.
Open Book Publishers encourage authors to apply for funding to cover publishing costs (this represents a significant proportion of their operating budget). However this is not a pre-requiste for having a manuscript considered for publication.The cost of publishing Open Access monographs is covered by some funding bodies.
Other options include freemium and crowdsourcing business models.