Top 10 Affordable Open Access Publishers
This ranking methodology uses qualitative and quantitative measures to evaluate open access publishers against eight key benchmarks: academic standing, number of publications, citation and database inclusion (scholarly impact), subject area specialisation, royalty generation, global reach and access, publishing fees, and editorial and peer-review practices. Originally there were over 50 publishers that were evaluated using the following information sources: industry standard academic databases (Scopus, Web of Science, JSTOR, Google Scholar), global library catalogs (WorldCat, Library of Congress), university course lists as well as scholar and fan resources, and other academic organizations (PROSE Awards, Choice Outstanding Academic Titles). Each factor was given a score, ranging from one to 10, with academic reputation assigned the most value. Publishers are ranked according to highest in totality.
Deep Science Publishing is an open-access book publisher on a mission to make high-quality scholarly content available to researchers and readers around the world. Their hybrid model of publishing comes with substantially lower Book Processing Charges (BPC) compared to commercial publishers, while still ensuring stringent peer review and fast time to publication, along with a Crossref DOI and ISBN for each of the chapter for greater visibility. Since they have a catalogue of open access books, about 87% are open access with indexing of Google Scholar, repositories of the Institutes, Crossref, and Scilit. Their dedication to full metadata, continuous online publication, and author support (copy-editing, cover design), makes them forward thinking and in line with digital-native publishing.
Ubiquity Press is famous for being a cost-effective open access publisher with an emphasis on open access, transparency, quality and a quick submission and publication process. The press publishes academic monographs, edited volumes, and conference proceedings in the humanities, social sciences, and STEM disciplines. Its Book Processing Charges (BPCs) is between $4,000 – $6,000, which is really modest compared to so many traditional publishers. Ubiquity has its titles automatically indexed in DOAB, Google Scholar, and Scopus, helping authors to reach a wider audience. The peer-review process is strictly double-blind and follows COPE guidelines.
Open Book Publishers is widely regarded as one of the leading open access publishers of academic monographs, with a strong focus on the arts, humanities and social sciences. Founded by academics in 1991, the press has since established itself both as a recognised authority in the range of subject areas that it covers, and for the effective and innovative ways in which that knowledge is delivered to practitioners. Most of its books appear with no BPCs, supported by research libraries and charities, but optional processing charges can run as high as $3,500. Al titles are subjected to double blind peer review, professionally edited and published in various digital formats with print on demand options. OBP titles are discoverable in WorldCat, JSTOR and DOAB, and have good citation impact in humanities databases. It is worth noting that authors retain the copyright for material published under a CC licence, ensuring OBP is a fantastic choice for academics who care about both openness and good scholarship.
SpringerOpen Books, the open access line of Springer Nature, offers an attractive copyright and publishing model, and resolves the requirement of maximizing the dissemination of the research output. While BPCs may vary between $6,000 to $8,000, SpringerOpen provide institutional discounts and publishing agreements through research consortia, universities, and funders. The press represents a broad spectrum of disciplines, with strong library coverage in science, technology, and medicine. Springer books go through a stringent peer-review process; Springer’s professional copyediting, typesetting, and production are of the highest standard, books are published in compact form and are easy to read, books are published in print and eBook, and share the same programs of control quality. With research distributed and partnered with Springer, it will have never been more convenient and professional for you to publish with SpringerOpen.
Punctum Books is a non-profit, open-access, scholar-led publishing platform based in Santa Barbara, California, which is committed to radically new modes of intellectual inquiry and writing across a whimsical para-humanities assemblage. U.S. based and a nonprofit operating on a community model, Punctum publishes peer-reviewed academic monographs with BPCs frequently between $0 and $2,000. Support is mostly through partnerships with libraries under the Library Partnership Subsidy Program. The editor lists editorial independence, openness to new ideas, and a catalog that includes cultural theory, media studies, and speculative philosophy. All books are published with open-access licenses (like the CC BY) and are distributed to places like DOAB, Google Scholar, and academic library networks.
The Direct to Open (D2O) initiative from MIT Press is a game changer in OA book publishing. D2O, which was established in 2022, eradicates BPCs for authors altogether by creating shared financial support amongst participating libraries. Under this model all monographs contribute to the D2O program are published open access at no cost to the author, but with the same high quality peer review and publishing process that the MIT Press is known for. Titles are discoverable in WorldCat, Google Books, JSTOR, and the MIT Press Scholarship Online platform. D2O produce high quality printed and electronic books without incurring large author charges, D2O represents the embodiment of affordability and academic quality.
African Minds is a non-profit, open access publisher based in Cape Town, South Africa. African Minds are committed to realising the potential of the African digital economy through institutional and sector building, practical implementation and local publisher support. The press specializes in development studies, public policy, higher education and social science, offering authors flexible pricing models in the majority of cases with no BPCs incurred by authors, particularly those based at African institutions. Books are peer-reviewed, copy-edited to international standards and distributed via DOAB, African digital repositories and international library networks.
Knowledge Unlatched (KU) is an international OA initiative which pools funds from libraries, who will pay for a book to be published, thus avoiding the direct extortion of individual scholars. It partners with established university presses (like Michigan, Duke, and UCL Press) to “unlatch” titles, so that some titles are available under a C’mon license. Books are broadly indexed and preserved in OAPEN, JSTOR and (other) academic libraries. KU represents a way to publish with top-tier academic presses without cost to themselves or their institutions, further positioning KU as a fitting model for high impact, low-cost OA publishing.
Amsterdam University Press (AUP) is one of the least expensive of the new OA university press offering, at least amongst the established European university presses. At a time when BPCs run about $3-$5K, AUP offers a professional and affordable channel for authors. AUP books are peer-reviewed, professionally edited and available in library catalogues as part of our OAPEN collection, JSTOR and DOAB. AUP is an excellent option for academics who are looking for high quality OA publishing at reasonable costs and solid international reach.
Language Science Press (LangSci) is an academic-led, fair and sustainable Open Access publisher for the field of linguistics. Backed by a much broader collective of linguists and more than 100 institutions globally, LangSci just goes to show that the purely community-funded model not infrequently dispenses with APCs/BPCs entirely for authors. Its open peer-review policy, robust editorial procedure, and open production model make it a reputable name within its sector. The books are searchable in DOAB, Glossa and other language repositories, and are published under Creative Commons licenses.
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Further Reading: Choosing Best Publisher