Opening the Future: A Funding Model for Open Access Books

Funding BPC-free open access book publishing while also broadening library collections through an affordable subscription to closed content.

We're reshaping how knowledge dissemination is funded and accessed, by leveraging the collective contributions of academic libraries worldwide. Your Opening the Future membership funds presses to publish new OA monographs, while your library simultaneously benefits from access to closed content, and no single institution bears a disproportionate burden.
For a modest annual fee your library gets DRM-free, unlimited access to a closed-access selection of the press' backlist, with perpetual access after three years. The press uses the membership revenue solely to produce new OA monographs, moving towards an affordable, sustainable model for academic publishing and creating a collection of OA books that are open for the world.

Be part of something special. Join the global community of supporting libraries who have already committed to Opening the Future.

NEWSFLASH: we are currently seeking three new scholarly presses with whom to launch the OtF model. If you are a small publisher interested in moving towards OA for books, incrementally and with low risk, then please contact the OtF team. More information and contact details can be found on our blog site.

Sign up to support a press:

CEU Press Liverpool University Press

Are you assessing OA book publishing initiatives?

Opening the Future helps you make informed decisions by ticking all the boxes:

·    Works with existing acquisition infrastructure

·    Supports Diversity, Equity & Inclusion goals

·    Builds your library collection with perpetual access

·    Benefits authors and institutions without dedicated OA funds

·    Authors and institutions don’t have to pay expensive BPCs

·    Complies with funder mandates for monograph publishing

·    Supports small independent university and mission-driven presses

·    Sources and disseminates research openly and globally

Value For Money

A three-year commitment to receive perpetual access to 50 titles while simultaneously funding new OA books is less than half an average BPC for a single book at many commercial publishers. 

No catches and no hidden fees. No bait and switch.

Members won’t be asked to pay more on top of their annual fee to access ‘more’ or ‘better’ titles. Access to titles won’t suddenly change. Participating presses are upfront about their fees, about what's in their packages of backlist books, and about any other benefits or services to libraries.