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Open access books do not cost anything for the readers, they involve, however, editorial, production, technical support and promotion costs. There are various business models for the publication of open access books. They are significant for institutions with relevant publishing activities (publishers, libraries), as well as for authors interested in publishing their work as an open access book. The most common business models for open access books are the following:

Institutional, state and other grant support

Many academic institutions support financially open access publishing on a continuous basis. This is usually the case with university presses and university press/library collaborations. Specific open access book publishing projects can often be realized through grants, donations or other external funding.

Author-pays model

This business model is commonly used for the subsidy of open access journals in natural and medical sciences. It appears, however, that it may also work with open access books. According to this model the publisher earns revenue by charging the author whose work has been approved for publication (author pays). These expenses incurred to the author are increasingly becoming standard research expenses that are ultimately assumed either by the author's institution and/or by the funder of the research. State research funding and managing bodies in various countries (e.g. in Austria), as well as research/academic institutions that actively support open access (e.g. University of California at Berkeley) establish funds that reimburse researchers for open access publication expenses, on condition of fulfilling criteria particular to each case. More information on the compact of five large U.S. universities to support financially open access publishing at www.oacompact.org .

Print Sales

Many open access book publishers support their open access publishing activities from the sales of the same books in print format. Open access books are sold in print via a print-on-demand service (POD), whereby the reader can order a print copy of an open access book. Also, some publishers create income by charging an institutional subscription for a combination of an open-access and print edition of a book.

Licensing

Some academic publishers of open access books create income by charging commercial uses of open access books.

Useful Texts

Greco, A. N. and Wharton, R. M. 2008. ‘Should University Presses Adopt an Open Access (Electronic Publishing) Bussiness Model For All of Their Scholarly Books?' , Proceedings ELPUB 2008 Conference on Electronic Publishing- Toronto-Canada-June 2008, 149-164 http://elpub.scix.net/data/works/att/149_elpub2008.content.pdf.

Paying for Open Access publication charges, guidance for higher education and research institutions, publishers and authors (March 2009), Research Information Network (RIN) and Universities UK http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/research-funding-policy-and-guidance/paying-open-access-publication-charges

J. Willinsky, Monograph Funding, (working paper)

Examples of universities that support financially Open Access