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Credit: Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis announces a new international collective funding pilot, Pledge to Open, which aims to publish 70 open access (OA) books on a broad range of global issues, including climate change, mental health, women’s rights, and race.
All higher education institutions in the UK can take part in the OA scheme thanks to an agreement struck with Jisc, the UK’s higher education library consortium.
Institutions can support one or more of seven interdisciplinary themed collections, each comprising 10 frontlist research books. If funding targets are met, the books will be published open access for everyone to read online, download and share.
The themed collections for this initial pilot are: climate change; green renewable energy; pandemic; populism and extremism; race and racism; wellbeing and mental health; and women’s health and rights.
Jeremy North, Managing Director of Advanced Learning at Taylor & Francis, said: “This ambitious pilot harnesses the power of OA to increase the reach and impact of research on key issues for the future of our societies and our planet. Support for open access books is growing and we hope Pledge to Open will enhance that by providing an equitable option that doesn’t rely on authors having access to funding to cover OA publishing charges.”
Caren Milloy, Jisc’s director of licensing, commented: “As we progress towards the commencement of the UKRI’s OA policy for long form publications, and as one of the largest publishers of UK research monographs, this agreement supports the transition to open access for monographs through collective funding rather than book processing charges. Diamond models such as this are imperative to driving a more equitable and sustainable open access publishing environment.”
Alex Robinson, Chief Commercial Officer at Taylor & Francis, added: “Accelerating the growth of open access books is an objective we share with Jisc, so we’re delighted they are supporting the launch of Pledge to Open. We’re also keen to hear from additional organizations who would like to explore the potential of this collective funding model.”
Institutions can join Pledge to Open straight away. The required pledge varies by institution, according to their size as well as the number and subjects of the collections they want to support.
All 10 books in a collection will be published open access once its funding goal has been reached. If over half the target is achieved in the 12-month pledging period, a proportion of the titles will still be made OA. Pledging institutions will have perpetual unlimited access to all books in their selected collections, regardless of whether the funding goal is met.
Taylor & Francis marks 10 years of open access book publishing in 2023. With over 1,500 fully OA titles in its portfolio, combined with thousands of individual open chapters, Taylor & Francis is one of the leading open access book publishers. Responding to feedback from institutions, funders and knowledge makers, the range of innovative Taylor & Francis OA book publishing options continues to evolve, offering choice, sustainability, impact and value.