1. Research on Open Access
monographs – a short review
DFG-Workshop „Open Access für
wissenschaftliche Monografien“ - 9/5/2012
Ronald Snijder

2. Contents
• Research based on books by Amsterdam
University Press
– The profits of free books
– OA in developed and developing countries
• Research based on OAPEN:
– User needs report
– OAPEN-NL pilot
– OAPEN-UK pilot
– Scholarly and scientific impact

3. Books by Amsterdam University Press (1/2)
“The profits of free books: an experiment to measure the
impact of open access publishing ”
http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/20100403
• Quantitative research; 2010
• 400 books – 300 in OA; 100 control titles
• Equal data sets: subject; language; print run etc.
• Main conclusions:
– OA enhances discovery and usage – expected
– OA has no influence on sales – unexpected

4. Books by Amsterdam University Press (2/2)
Open Access in developed and developing countries
(article under review)
• Quantitative research; 2012
• Based on same data set: English language books
• 180 books – 137 in OA; 43 control titles
• Conclusions:
– Developing countries profit more from OA:
percentage of discovery and usage is
significant higher

5. Research based on OAPEN:
User needs report
“Digital Monographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences: Report on
User Needs”
http://bit.ly/J300K6
• Qualitative research; 2010
• Interviews with 40 experts; two round table discussions; survey on
250 scholars
• Main conclusions:
– Most important to stakeholders:
• Accessibility and dissemination
• Quality
– Economic viability of monograph publishing is
threatened

6. Research based on OAPEN:
OAPEN-NL pilot
OAPEN-NL pilot
www.oapen.nl
• Evaluate OA publication model; publishing 50 OA monographs
• Qualitative and quantitative; 2010-2013
• Stakeholder surveys: authors; publishers
• Analysis of calculations: costs of OA monographs
• Research on discovery; usage; sales:
– 94 books – 49 in OA; 45 control titles
• Conclusions (based on interim report):
– Publishers: OA calculation is probably correct; doubts on financial
sustainability
– Authors: optimistic about scholarly impact of OA

7. OAPEN-NL calculation
OA - Peer review
Print - Marketing OA - Platform
€ 279
Print - Direct costs € 508 2% € 104
€ 782 3% OA - Marketing
1%
Print - € 288
5% OA - Editing
Royalties
€ 2,121 2%
€ 1,060
13%
7%
Print - Overhead
€ 851
5%
Distribution OA - Type setting
€ 1,567 € 1,774
10% 11%
OA - Overhead
Print costs € 1,348
€ 2,882 8%
18%
OA - Direct costs
€ 1,780
Print costs: € 8.136 (51%) 11%
OA costs: € 7.815 (49%) Cover OA - Royalties
€ 487 € 119
3% 1%

8. Research based on OAPEN:
OAPEN-UK pilot (1/2)
OAPEN-UK pilot
http://oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org/
• Qualitative and quantitative; 2010-2015
• Stakeholders: publishers; research councils;
authors; researchers and institutions
• Research on discovery; usage; sales:
– 58 books – 29 in OA; 29 control titles
• First year results on next slide

9. Research based on OAPEN:
OAPEN-UK pilot (2/2)
OAPEN-UK pilot
http://oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org/
First year results, key issues for each stakeholder:
• Institutions: long-term availability of content; metadata and discovery; functionality;
financial issues
• Publishers: business models; brand and platforms; users’ needs; consistency; standards &
costs
• Academics: what matters to academics; formats and rights; drivers for change; barriers to
change
• HSS funders: future of monographs; funding and business models; transitions and drivers /
barriers; quality; benefits of an OA model
• Learned societies: business models and income streams; quality; international issues;
rights
• e-book aggregators: should aggregators get involved; opportunities; barriers; quality
assurance
• Research managers: who pays?; change in academic cultures; research funding

10. Research based on OAPEN:
scholarly and scientific impact (1/3)
• Measuring usage by several stakeholders
• Quantitative; 2011-2012
• Large amount of data:
– 859 monographs
– 25,000 downloads
– 1,500 providers

11. Research based on OAPEN:
scholarly and scientific impact (2/3)
Downloads OAPEN Library - 2011
Academic (National)
4.71%
General public (International)
Academic (International)
31.79%
23.11%
Non-profit
(National)
0.19%
Non-profit (International)
0.72%
Government (National)
0.30%
Government
(International)
Business (National) 1.95%
0.20%
Business
(International)
0.98%
Uncertain (International) General public (National)
8.83% Uncertain
26.61%
(National)
0.61%

12. Research based on OAPEN:
scholarly and scientific impact (3/3)
• Test of method: used data is just a fraction of all downloads!
• The last 12 months:
– Almost 192,000 unique visitors
– More than 301,000 books downloaded

13. Thank you!
More on OAPEN:
• www.oapen.org
• www.oapen.nl
• www.oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org
• Twitter:@Oapenbooks
Directory of Open Access Books:
• www.doabooks.org
• Twitter: @Doabooks
Contact me:
• r.snijder@aup.nl
• Twitter: @Ronaldsnijder