Publishing Between Profit and Public Value: Academic Books and Open Access Policies

• In Event: Policy Approaches to Access and Use of Information

Abstract

This article explores how the open access movement in the UK is affecting academic book publishing, with potentially global consequences. I begin by tracing the origins of OA back to open source software initiatives and show how Research Councils UK (RCUK) and Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) policies are underpinned by similar assumptions about the role of the Internet in promotion of public good. Then, I look at open access initiatives and other strategies in response to shifts in policy within two overlapping yet distinct fields of academic book publishing, (1) scholarly books and (2) higher education textbooks, and find unintended consequences potentially resulting in less openness and equitable access to knowledge production and consumption. Ultimately, I will contend, the open access movement in the UK risks further concentrating control of academic book publishing within a few powerful institutions.

Author

• Casey Brienza, City U London