Frequently Asked Questions

Click the links below to jump to the FAQs and answers

About Open Access and Opening the Future

1. Why are our publishers offering this subscription membership model?

Our publishers are working with this model because it is the most effective way to reduce costs to libraries and provide equitable access to publishing for authors who do not have BPCs available to them.

For some, Opening the Future represents a first foray into collective funding, while for others it complements other engagements (such as Boydell & Brewer's Horizons programme). For all, Opening the Future enables them to diversify and strengthen the paths available to their authors to publish their work open access in ways compliant with funder mandates.

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2. What are the key features about Opening the Future that are of interest to librarians?

The model is designed to service different types of libraries.

If you already have most or all of our backlist books it is likely that you would continue to buy our books in the future, but the more we can make OA the fewer books you would need to purchase. On the other hand, if you want a smaller selection of titles for a very economic price, then buying our backlist packages is for you. All the proceeds go to funding the OA frontlist and again this will broaden the range of books for your readers.

You can either purchase the backlist package(s) if your procurement policies require content in exchange for payment, or you can pay through your OA funds. And we offer an 'OA membership' option which comes with no backlist titles but which still helps to fund our open access efforts on the frontlist.

Either way, we are seeing a shift to supporting OA models from acquisitions budgets and we are hoping that this will be the source of support for OA, not only for us, but for all OA initiatives for books. Otherwise it will be impossible to move from pilots to regular practice. Regular revenue like this will greatly ease the way for new initiatives to become established and reliable funding for publishing activities.

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3. How does Opening the Future help libraries use their budgets efficiently?

Whether you're interested in acquiring additional backlist titles, or if you have them all already and want to support the frontlist going OA, the cost of our programme is very attractive. Our members are banded according to the Carnegie Classification, as recognised by Lyrasis, and a three-year subscription for even the highest band library is equivalent to less than an industry average single BPC.

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4. What is the goal of this model?

Nothing less than to provide a route to sustainable and equitably funded OA books for the foundational publications of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

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5. Is this like a 'Read and Publish' deal, but for books?

No, the model is not based on the support of individual titles. If anything it's more like a 'Subscribe to Open' offer. Participating libraries get unlimited, DRM-free access to curated selections of backlist eBooks at a much cheaper price than buying them in print one at a time. The subscription fees are then used to publish new, frontlist books in OA format. It's that simple. There are no BPCs charged. Authors at participating libraries do not get 'preferential' or 'discounted' publishing deals: OA books are chosen on merit, through the normal editorial proposal process and are rigorously peer reviewed. The cost of producing OA books is paid for by the collected library subscription fees: so the more libraries sign up, the more books can be published as OA. If our publishers can get to a fully open frontlist then any authors, including those based at subscribing member institutions, will be able to publish openly with us.

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6. Can this model scale for use by other publishers without inundating libraries with lots of tiny details?

We believe that with the documented success of Opening the Future we have a model that could lead to the widespread transition of university and mission-driven presses worldwide to OA. Others, including the Copim Community and the Open Book Collective, are working on reducing the friction of OA publishing through managing and selling funding schemes to libraries.

Any publishers interested in launching an OtF program of their own can contact Fulcrum publishing services on fulcrum-info@umich.edu, or can join any of the quarterly calls with the OtF Community of Practice forum for an informal chat with the other publishers and platform providers already involved.

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Opening the Future information for librarians

1. When will you make your books open access?

All new frontlist titles are at first planned as traditionally-sold 'closed' books. But as soon as our publishers have accrued enough library support to fund a book, after they identify a good candidate title, they change the metadata before the book is published and any sales are made and the distributors move the book to an OA status. So far, this has been roughly between 2-3 months before publication. In this way our publishers hope to avoid libraries buying books because their OA status was announced too late.

To keep track of OtF publishers' OA progress, please visit their webpages and/or subscribe to their individual newsletters and comms channels.

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2. Is this program open to library consortia deals?

Yes, certainly. To date, Opening the Future has received some degree of consortial support from: The California Digital Library, IReL, and BTAA. If you are a member of a consortium that you think would be interested in one of our publishers, please contact Lyrasis in the first instance and they will liaise with or put you in touch with the appropriate press: membersupport@lyrasis.org

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3. What happens if a frontlist title has access to other funding such as a BPC from a research grant?

The policy our publishers adhere to is to first seek funding from other sources and only if that is not available (which it is still not in most cases) would they apply the funds raised from this project to make books open.

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4. How are your OA books chosen for publishing through OtF? What factors determine if a book should go open?

All of our participating presses examine which books would most benefit the Press' audience by being openly accessible: which books would have the most reach, the most relevant topics, and what scholarship should definitely be made available openly. They also work with authors to determine whether or not they would like their work to be published openly, and whether they have access to other (e.g. institutional) funds to achieve this. All books funded via Opening the Future revenue go through the same editorial and peer review processes as our books funded via other means.

Publisher Criteria

CEU Press

The following webpage links have guidance for authors outlining our selection criteria and editorial quality process, and we also have guidance on the OA process in general:

CEU Press - Open Access

CEU Press - For Authors

CEU Press - Authors

Boydell & Brewer

Selection Principles

1. Equity and Accessibility — We prioritize works that amplify underrepresented voices, explore marginalized communities, or address regions and topics often overlooked in mainstream academic publishing.
2. Academic and Disciplinary Impact — Books that align with current research priorities—such as sustainability, social justice, and interdisciplinary studies—are given preference, ensuring relevance for teaching and research across multiple disciplines.
3. Author and Institutional Diversity — We aim to focus on those authors with limited access to OA funding, whether they be early-career/first time authors or established scholars.

Process

1. We assess which titles would most benefit from being openly accessible as per the above principles, in a given timeline (when funding has reached a threshold that a title can be considered).
2. We consult with authors to confirm their interest in OA, exclude titles with existing OA funding support, and check there are no copyright obstacles to Open Access provision.
3. >All OA titles funded through Opening the Future undergo the same rigorous editorial and peer review processes as our traditionally published books.

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5. How can the Press revenue targets be reached? And what happens if and when they are reached? If it is not reached, how does the Press decide what will be published OA?

Revenue targets can be reached as more libraries join up. The model is incremental by design and this is one of its unique benefits, with a low flipping threshold that makes it quick for members to see positive results of their investment. If subscription revenue exceeds the costs spent on publishing OA frontlist in any given year our publishers will discuss with our members on how best to spend that, for example by publishing more books OA; reducing fees for members; or re-investing the surplus money into open infrastructures. They have several relevant criteria regarding what titles to make available OA through OtF funding; primarily that the authors want (or need) to publish their monographs OA, and that there is no other funding available. After that, they assign titles in order of publication date, with as much notice to the libraries as possible through the title metadata distributions to ensure they are aware of the status change to OA.

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Signing up - money and conditions

1. What do subscribing members get for their money?

Members receive access to the backlist titles they have chosen to subscribe to. These packages of backlist books vary in size and topic depending on the publisher, and more details can be found by following the links from the OtF home page to the individual press pages or on the Lyrasis catalogue as follows:

• Basler Afrika Bibliographien Opening the Future
• Boydell & Brewer Opening the Future
• Central European University Press Opening the Future
• Liverpool University Press Opening the Future
• Michigan State University Press Opening the Future

We also welcome library members (and non-member librarians!) to join the publisher members in our quarterly Community of Practice.

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2. How much do members pay per year?

Our membership prices vary per publisher due to variations in package size and book production costs. For individual package prices, please see here the following links:

• Basler Afrika Bibliographien Opening the Future
• Boydell & Brewer Opening the Future
• Central European University Press Opening the Future
• Liverpool University Press Opening the Future
• Michigan State University Press Opening the Future

Library and institutional members are banded according to Carnegie Classification, as recognised by Lyrasis. Membership is for a minimum of three years. Member libraries and institutions will have unlimited concurrent/simultaneous access to all titles in the package they've subscribed to during the term of their three year membership. They will be entitled to perpetual access to that package at the end of their three year membership.

The simplest way to sign up is through Lyrasis via the links above or by emailing them on \[membersupport@lyrasis.org](mailto:membersupport@lyrasis.org)

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3. Will member libraries/institutions have unlimited access to the books in the subscription package? And what happens at the end of the three years?

Member libraries and institutions have unlimited concurrent/simultaneous access to all titles in the package you've subscribed to during the term of your three-year membership. You will be entitled to perpetual access to the package(s) at the end of your three year membership. There is no 'bait and switch' and packages won't suddenly change after you have joined.

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4. What will be the format of the book subscription package and what services will be available to members?

Book formats per publisher

CEU Press

The books in the subscription packages are hosted on Project MUSE in their standard DRM-free, unlimited-use model for ebooks. Content is delivered in chapter-based PDF format. Full-text searching is available across all books and within individual titles. MUSE supports authentication via IP, Shibboleth, and referring URL. Participating libraries will be able to make use of MUSE's Library Dashboard to access MARC records and KBART files customised to their holdings, and to retrieve COUNTER 5-compliant usage statistics. MUSE collaborates with all major library discovery vendors and will ensure the packages are set up as collections to be activated in all pertinent discovery services. Books on the MUSE platform are preserved through participation in PORTICO's E-Book Preservation service.

Project MUSE is committed to the accessibility of content and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), in a manner consistent with the Web Accessibility Initiative Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA. They have a full accessibility statement on their website: https://about.muse.jhu.edu/about/accessibility/

Liverpool University Press

The ebooks will be available for download from the LUP website and also via our new super-fast, feature-rich online eReader which presents volumes with a crisp fully-scalable image and the ability to zoom in, bookmark, copy text, print, and download. Liverpool University Press is committed to making this website and its resources accessible to the widest possible audience. To do this, we have developed a fully WCAG 2 compliant website which scored 100% on its Lighthouse performance report. We aim to be fully WCAG 2.1 compliant by the end of 2021. Members will be able to create administrative accounts on the LUP website in order to access MARC records and COUNTER statistics. KBART files can be supplied by the publisher upon request.

Michigan State University Press

The books in the subscription packages are hosted on Project MUSE in their standard DRM-free, unlimited-use model for ebooks. Content is delivered in chapter-based PDF format. Full-text searching is available across all books and within individual titles. MUSE supports authentication via IP, Shibboleth, OpenAthens ID, and referring URL. Participating libraries will be able to make use of MUSE's Library Dashboard to access MARC records and KBART files customised to their holdings, and to retrieve COUNTER 5-compliant usage statistics. MUSE collaborates with all major library discovery vendors and will ensure the packages are set up as collections to be activated in all pertinent discovery services. Books on the MUSE platform are preserved through participation in PORTICO's E-Book Preservation service.

Project MUSE is committed to the accessibility of content and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), in a manner consistent with the Web Accessibility Initiative Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA. They have a full accessibility statement on their website: https://about.muse.jhu.edu/about/accessibility/

Boydell & Brewer

The books in the subscription packages are hosted on Fulcrum in their standard DRM-free, unlimited-use model for ebooks. Content is delivered in chapter-based PDF and EPUB formats. Full-text searching is available within individual titles and across title-level metadata. Fulcrum supports authentication via IP, Shibboleth, OpenAthens ID, and referring URL. Participating libraries will be able to access MARC records and KBART files customised to their holdings, and to retrieve COUNTER 5-compliant usage statistics. Fulcrum collaborates with major library discovery vendors and will ensure the packages are set up as collections to be activated in all pertinent discovery services. Books on the Fulcrum platform are preserved through CLOCKSS.

Fulcrum is committed to the accessibility of content and aims to meet the latest WCAG 2AA Standards (currently WCAG 2.2 AA). They have a full accessibility statement on their website: https://www.fulcrum.org/accessibility/

Basler Afrika Bibliographien

The books in the subscription package are hosted on the ABC in their standard DRM-free, unlimited-use model for ebooks. Content is delivered in PDF format. Text searching is available within individual titles and across title-level metadata via an AI tool called Book Buddy. The ABC supports authentication via IP range, OpenAthens ID, and EZproxy. Participating libraries will be able to access MARC records and KBART files customised to their holdings, and to retrieve COUNTER 5-compliant usage statistics. The ABC collaborates with major library discovery vendors and will ensure the packages are set up as collections to be activated in all pertinent discovery services. Books on the ABC platform are preserved through CLOCKSS.

The ABC is committed to the accessibility of content and aims to meet the latest WCAG 2AA Standards (currently WCAG 2.2 AA).

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5. What if we want to access more than one package?

Some of our publishers (Liverpool University Press, Michigan State University Press, and Basler Afrika Bibliographien) currently only offer one backlist package. CEU Press and Boydell & Brewer both offer multiple packages on a variety of subjects. For details please see the following links:

• Basler Afrika Bibliographien Opening the Future
• Boydell & Brewer Opening the Future
• Central European University Press Opening the Future
• Liverpool University Press Opening the Future
• Michigan State University Press Opening the Future

You can sign up to as many packages as you like - simply fill in the form for each package you want access to or email membersupport@lyrasis.org and let them know which ones you want.

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6. If a library doesn't have a discretionary OA budget, can they still participate?

Yes, absolutely. Funds from any budget are accepted. In fact, we are hoping that as libraries see this to be a cheaper way of building collections they will pay for this type of offer through their acquisitions budgets.

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7. How do we sign up and join?

Joining takes about 1 minute by filling in a form with your details and the package(s) you wish to have access to. The presses will initiate membership and billing when they receive your details.

• Basler Afrika Bibliographien Opening the Future
• Boydell & Brewer Opening the Future
• Central European University Press Opening the Future
• Liverpool University Press Opening the Future
• Michigan State University Press Opening the Future

For UK HEIs, the easiest route to become a member is via Jisc.

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About the books and collections

1. How have the packages been composed?

Each of our participating publishers have put packages together by focussing on backlist that formed a coherent subject package, and which are still useful and relevant scholarship.

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2. Are there any DRM restrictions on the backlist?

No, all backlist package titles that you are subscribed to will be DRM-free or have very light DRM (like a watermark) and accessible by multiple users simultaneously.

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3. How will the OA books be made available? And how are supporting libraries informed?

The new titles funded by the program and published open access are hosted on Project MUSE and OAPEN. OA books are available in PDF format with CC BY NC ND licences. Project MUSE supports open access books with MARC records, KBART files, and metadata sharing with major library vendors, to ensure that OA content is widely discoverable through library systems. The books are also listed in DOAB.

All titles get distributed to as wide a network as possible, this includes JSTOR, Project MUSE, DOAB, ProQuest, EBSCO, De Gruyter etc - this way, if you are set up to receive catalogue data from any of these services, you will get details of the OA titles as well wherever you choose to make them available. The new OA titles funded by the program at Liverpool University Press are also hosted on the LUP website.

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4. Do the Presses also sell print copies of the OA books?

Yes. All OA titles are available to purchase in print form. Print books can be bought through the normal channels.

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5. We already own the backlist titles/don't need access to the books but would still like to support the OA programme. Can we do this?

Yes, our publishers appreciate that some institutions may not want to sign up for a book package, but might still want to support, and help fund, the open access monographs they publish. For these institutions we have created an 'OA Supporter Membership'. It is simple and quick to join: just fill in the sign up form at Lyrasis with your details and we'll do the rest, or email Lyrasis on membersupport@lyrasis.org. No further action is required from you once we have processed the payment.

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Author FAQs

1. Is my book eligible for the OtF programme?

Opening the Future is meant to support authors who do not have access to BPCs. Where there is funding from a grant funder or an institution, the publishers will use those funds first. Only after these avenues have been explored will they see if your book meets the criteria they've set for our OtF programme. Please get in touch with the relevant Press acquisitions editors to discuss your particular situation.

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2. Is this programme compliant with funder mandates?

Yes. For more detailed information contact Lyrasis on membersupport@lyrasis.org or Jisc.

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3. I'm not sure about going open access for my work. Can it remain closed with publishers who participate in Opening the Future?

Yes, all the OtF publishers will respect the wishes of authors who wish their work to remain closed.

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4. Do you apply the same peer review process to your OA books as closed ones?

Yes. All of our publishers apply the same publishing processes, with the same promotional activities, as well as making print editions available.

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5. My University is a member of Opening the Future with one of the participating publishers. Does this mean I can publish OA books with you without the need for funding?

There is no linkage between an institution supporting our programme and their own authors being allowed to publish OA. Authors at member institutions do not get 'preferential' or 'discounted' publishing deals: OA books are chosen on merit, through the normal editorial proposal process and are peer reviewed. Authors are always welcome to submit a monograph proposal through our normal process but membership of Opening the Future is not a factor in the editorial or acceptance process.

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6. Is this a 'read and publish' deal or a 'transformative agreement'?

Opening the Future is not like a 'transformative agreement' in the journal world. There is no linkage between an institution supporting the model and their own authors being allowed to publish OA, and it's not based on the support of individual titles. If anything it's more like a 'Subscribe to Open' offer. Participating libraries get unlimited access to curated selections of backlist eBooks at a much cheaper price than buying them in print one at a time. The subscription fees are then used to publish new OA books.

In a sense, the programme is trying to break the link between institutions paying and their own authors being allowed to publish openly, in favour of the press securing a 100% open frontlist and so achieving the former by default. It's perhaps better thought of as an attempt to build an open, global 'collection' that is shared by libraries in common, around the world. There are no BPCs charged, and authors at participating institutions do not get 'preferential' or 'discounted' publishing deals: OA books are chosen on merit through the normal editorial proposal process and are peer reviewed. The cost of producing OA books is paid for by the collected library subscription fees: the more libraries sign up, the more OA books can be published.

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