03. Author Success Stories

As open access (OA) book publishing has begun to flourish, many publishers and institutional libraries have created testimonials from the authors of these books. These testimonials cover a wide variety of aspects of OA publishing; some describe how and why an author decided to publish OA, some talk about the editorial and production process in general, and others outline what the benefit of OA has been from the author’s perspective. 

We acknowledge that there has been a historical wariness from some authors to publish their work openly and so we wanted to collate as many of these author experiences with OA publishing as we could. We felt that creating a trove of evidence to counter common author concerns would be helpful, and particularly meaningful coming from other authors rather than, for example, publishers. 

The format is simple: The headings below indicate what institution the authors’ stories were disseminated by. Each section provides a quotation from the resource (adapted where necessary for clarity and sense, e.g. changing something from first to third person). The resource is then linked below. 

If you want to recommend more author success stories for inclusion in this section, please contact us at info@copim.ac.uk.

Bloomsbury

"Authors from our African Studies and International Development lists, Odilile Ayodele, James B. Stewart, Kofi Anani and Aliou Ly, share their perspectives on open access (OA) in the Global South, discussing the value of OA for their research, the barriers they’ve faced and developments they hope to see in future."

Visit the Bloomsbury website to learn more

Rebecca Bennett reflects on how one accessible book changed the course of her entire career, and how the values of open research have been at the core of her work ever since.

Rebecca’s book, The Welfare of Future Children, is the 500th title to be published open access by Bloomsbury, and was funded by The University of Manchester.

Boydell & Brewer

"In Spring 2023 we launched Boydell & Brewer Open Access, to make it easy for readers to browse all our freely available content. The site has continued to grow, adding more books and chapters in history, African studies and music. There are lots of reasons why humanities researchers might publish Open Access (OA). We asked the authors and editors of our most-read OA titles to share their stories."

Visit the Boydell & Brewer website to learn more

Lancaster University

Lesson 7/10 from A Guide to Publishing Open Access Monographs, Books, Book Chapters and Long-Form Outputs "... gathers the author testimonies and case studies located throughout this resource into a single page. The first part of this section includes interviews with Lancaster University academics. The second part of this page includes interviews and case studies from external researchers and organisations." Visit the Lancaster University website to learn more

Talking Around the Library Tree is a podcast from Lancaster University Library. Listen to the following episodes where Lancaster authors share their experiences:

NEW. The Trailblazers initiative is an open-access publishing program, designed to support early career researchers by fully funding their first scholarly book and offering intensive publishing 'Masterclasses'. See Copim Compass | Book 4 | Library Success Stories for more information. The first Lancaster University author to be approved for publishing with Trailblazers is Kathy Chandler, lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning at Lancaster. With a professional background spanning healthcare to online distance education, Kathy’s work emphasizes the importance of care, community, and equitable access in digital education. In a recent interview, Kathy shared insights on her participation in the Trailblazers scheme.

Read an interview with Trailblazers author Kathy Chandler

OAPEN OA Books Toolkit

"This collection of case studies features a group of authors who explain in their own words how open access publication has benefited their work. The authors come from different disciplinary and geographical backgrounds and have published with a range of publishers; they explore different reasons why open access was a successful choice for them."

Visit the OAPEN OA Books Toolkit to learn more

Open Access Books Network (OABN)

"The OA Mythbusters’ series was launched for 2021 Open Access Week. Through this video series the OABN community seeks to dispel a number of key myths around OA books. In these short videos, common statements are addressed by fellow community members, informally known as ‘the OA Mythbusters'."

Visit the Open Access Books Network to learn more

Open Book Publishers

'Read the testimonials below to hear from some of our authors, and from journals who have commented on our work as a press. You can also find reviews and testimonials for individual books on their home page via the catalogue.'

Visit the Open Book Publishers testimonials page to find out more. 

Opening the Future

In this section, you can read testimonial from authors whose books were published open access, thanks to funding provided by Copim’s collective library funding model, “Opening the Future”.

Peter Watson

Peter Watson, Teaching Fellow at the University of Leeds, discusses his book "Football and Nation Building in Colombia (2010-2018)," which was published open access by Liverpool University Press in 2022. 

Read more

Mario Graña Taborelli

Author Mario Graña Taborelli (Visiting Fellow, UCL) discusses his book "Jurisdictional Battlefields", which was published Open Access by Liverpool University Press in 2024.

Read more

Daniel Silva

Author Daniel Silva (Associate Professor, Middlebury College) discusses his book "Empire Found: Racial Identities and Coloniality in Twenty-First Century Portuguese Popular Cultures" which was published open access in 2022 by Liverpool University Press.

Read more

 

Scottish Universities Press (SUP)

"Breaking down borders between academia and the rest of the world: A conversation with Tim Ingold and his co-authors."

Visit the Scottish Universities Press website to learn more 

Springer Nature

"Discover what some of our open access book authors and editors have to say about publishing an open access book with Springer Nature." 

Visit the Springer Nature website to learn more 

TOME - Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem

"TOME brings together scholars, universities, libraries, and presses in pursuit of a common goal—a sustainable open monograph ecosystem."

Visit the TOME website to read the author testimonials 

UK Research and Innovation - Open Research

"UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) supports and champions open research because open research enhances the quality, collaboration and impact of research.

UKRI commissioned Insights Media to develop case studies to help researchers learn from the experiences of authors who have published monographs and edited collections open access. The case studies share examples of opportunities, challenges, and lessons learnt." 

Read the case studies on Zenodo 

University of Essex

The University of Essex website provides a dedicated Q&A on OA publication section with Essex authors reflecting on publishing open access.

Watch the Open Access Research series of interviews with Essex authors who have published using the University of Essex Open Access Fund.

Learn more about how the series was filmed...


University of London Press

"At the University of London Press, we have been reflecting on recent conversations in the sector about research culture, what this means for the humanities, the potential benefits of open access, the role of publishing and our own role as a publisher." 

Professor Sarah Fox reflects on publishing and research culture at the University of London Press

Professor Rachel E. Johnson reflects on publishing and research culture at the University of London Press

Professor Diogo de Carvalho Cabral reflects on publishing and research culture at the University of London Press

University of Oxford

"There are as many journeys to open access as there are researchers and books - below are the journeys of a few Oxford authors."

Visit the University of Oxford website to learn more 

University of Sheffield

"In this series of case studies, researchers from the University of Sheffield explore their experiences of publishing an open access monograph."

Visit the University of Sheffield website to learn more 

Additional testimonials

In this section you can access additional blogposts, podcasts and videos in which authors and open access practitioners discuss and reflect on publishing open access. 

In this episode of the Jisc podcast Research Talk, Dr. Joe Deville, senior lecturer at Lancaster University, and Lucy Barnes, senior editor and outreach coordinator at Open Book Publishers share insights on the COPIM project, which develops community-governed infrastructures for open access book publishing, and address misconceptions about open access, such as the feasibility of physical book sales and the inclusion of images. Their discussion highlights the critical role of collaboration among academics, publishers, and librarians in reshaping the future of scholarly publishing.

Dr. Ellie Gore's recent publication with the University of Manchester, 'Between HIV Prevention and LGBTI Rights: The Political Economy of Queer Activism in Ghana', underscores the impact of open access publishing on the academic community and beyond.