Europe’s libraries to assess open-access impact on books

Hundreds of European research libraries are being asked to help determine how the shift to open access impacts scientific work published in books and monographs.

Liber, the Association of European Research Libraries, says most incentives for researchers and publishers to support open access are aimed at traditional journal articles.

But unlike journal articles—where one-off open-access fees are often paid by funders—books and monographs need long-term funding that often involves separate grant applications. This, says Liber, could be an obstacle to Plan S, an international agreement to achieve 100 per cent open-access publication of academic research results by 2020.