Open Book Publishers

Open Book Publishers
Name	Open Book Publishers
Country	United Kingdom
Headquarters	Cambridge
Established	2008
Founders	Amy Woodforde, Alessandra Tosi
Distribution	Direct sales; library platforms; digital repositories
Topics	Humanities; Social Sciences; Science

Open Book Publishers is an independent scholarly press founded in 2008 in Cambridge, United Kingdom, focused on open access monographs and edited collections across the humanities and social sciences. The press combines traditional peer review and editorial standards with open licensing and multiple-format distribution, engaging with academic stakeholders including universities, libraries, researchers, and funders such as the Wellcome Trust, Arts and Humanities Research Council, and European Research Council. Its catalogue includes translations, critical editions, and interdisciplinary projects drawing on partnerships with institutions like the British Library, Cambridge University Library, and international university presses.

History

The press emerged amid debates at the Serenbe Conference and within initiatives tied to the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition about sustainable models for monograph publishing. Early activities overlapped with projects funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and collaborations involving scholars affiliated with the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Edinburgh, University of Toronto, and Harvard University. Over time the press expanded from single-author monographs into series and multilingual editions, engaging with digital humanities infrastructures such as the Digital Humanities Observatory and partnerships with the Directory of Open Access Books and the OpenAIRE network.

Mission and Publishing Model

The publisher's mission emphasizes accessibility, scholarly rigor, and innovation in dissemination, aligning with policy frameworks from the Research Excellence Framework and mandates set by the Wellcome Trust and Horizon 2020. Its model blends traditional academic editing with open licensing, enabling distribution through venues including the Internet Archive, institutional repositories like Oxford University Research Archive and Cambridge Repository, and commercial aggregators such as JSTOR and ProQuest for print and metadata exposure. Financial support has included grants and library-backed purchase models similar to initiatives pioneered by the Knowledge Unlatched consortium and pilot programs associated with the HEFCE open access consultations.

Notable Publications and Series

The catalogue features critical works and series that have engaged scholars linked to the British Academy, Royal Historical Society, Modern Language Association, and the American Historical Association. Notable editions include critical translations of texts connected to the University of California Press catalogue and comparative studies resonant with scholarship from the École Normale Supérieure and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Series collaborations have involved editorial boards with members from the School of Oriental and African Studies, King's College London, Princeton University Press-adjacent scholars, and contributors who have participated in conferences hosted by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.

Editorial and Peer Review Practices

Manuscripts undergo a formal peer review process informed by standards recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics and modeled after policies used at major academic publishers including Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. Editorial oversight is provided by subject editors and advisory boards drawn from institutions such as the London School of Economics, University of Manchester, Columbia University, and Yale University. Reviews are typically double-blind or single-blind depending on disciplinary norms; external reviewers have affiliations spanning the American Council of Learned Societies, the British Sociological Association, and the European Association for Biblical Studies.

Distribution, Open Access Policies, and Licensing

Books are released in multiple formats—PDF, EPUB, HTML, and print-on-demand—distributed through platforms including the Directory of Open Access Books, the Internet Archive, and library supply chains linked to OCLC and HathiTrust. The press employs open licenses such as Creative Commons variants compatible with funders like the Wellcome Trust and the European Commission's open access mandates under Horizon 2020. Institutional adoption has been supported through consortial models and library funding arrangements similar to schemes developed by the Chicago Distribution Center and collaborative purchasing seen in networks like COPIM.

Awards and Recognition

Publications have received scholarly awards and recognition from bodies including the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and the Modern Language Association. The press itself has been cited in policy reports by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee and has featured in case studies by the JISC and the Open Access Week community. Individual titles have won prizes linked to organizations such as the British Academy Book Prize and regional awards administered by national academies including the Academy of Social Sciences.

Category:Academic publishing companies Category:Open access publishing