Academic publisher Taylor & Francis has taken a significant step towards advancing open access (OA) with the launch of their latest initiative, Pledge to Open. This groundbreaking international collective funding pilot aims to publish 70 open-access books on pressing global issues, such as climate change, mental health, women's rights, and race.
Thanks to a strategic agreement with Jisc, the UK's higher education library consortium, all higher education institutions in the UK have the opportunity to participate in this initiative. Institutions can choose to support one or more of the seven interdisciplinary themed collections, each comprising 10 frontlist research books. Upon achieving the funding targets, the books will be made accessible online for everyone to read, download, and share.
The themed collections for the pilot encompass a diverse range of topics, including climate change, green renewable energy, pandemics, populism and extremism, race and racism, well-being and mental health, and women's health and rights. By focusing on these critical issues, the initiative aims to increase the reach and impact of research, fostering broader knowledge dissemination and promoting potential solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing society and the planet.
Jeremy North, Managing Director of Advanced Learning at Taylor & Francis, expressed his enthusiasm for the ambitious pilot, emphasizing how OA can enhance the impact of research without relying on authors to cover OA publishing charges. The move towards open access for monographs through collective funding, rather than book processing charges, aligns with the broader goals of promoting a more equitable and sustainable open-access publishing environment.
Caren Milloy, Jisc's director of licensing, lauded the agreement, noting the importance of diamond models like Pledge to Open in driving such an environment. With the support of Jisc, Taylor & Francis aims to accelerate the growth of open access books, and they are open to collaboration with other organizations interested in exploring this collective funding model.
Institutions can join Pledge to Open immediately, with the required pledge varying based on their size and the number and subjects of the collections they wish to support. Once a collection reaches its funding goal, all ten books within it will be published open access. If over half of the target is achieved within the 12-month pledging period, a proportion of the titles will still be made OA. Importantly, institutions that pledge their support will gain perpetual unlimited access to all books in their chosen collections, regardless of whether the funding goal is met.
This initiative marks a significant milestone for Taylor & Francis, as they celebrate ten years of open access book publishing in 2023. With an extensive portfolio of over 1,500 fully OA titles and thousands of open chapters, the publisher is at the forefront of open access book publishing. The evolving range of innovative OA book publishing options offered by Taylor & Francis continues to cater to the needs of institutions, funders, and knowledge creators, providing choice, sustainability, impact, and value.
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