Bloomsbury Open Collections is a collective-action approach to funding open access (OA) books, currently in the first year of its pilot phase. Through this model, Bloomsbury is aiming to make open access publication available to a wider range of authors by spreading the cost among participating institutions while providing additional benefits to these institutions.
Bloomsbury aims to make 20 frontlist titles in African Studies and International Development open access immediately upon publication. The titles are due to be published between March 2024 and February 2025, and include titles from Bloomsbury’s Zed Books imprint. The titles will be published under the Creative Commons license of each author’s or editor’s choice with CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 as standard. Bloomsbury will permit other licenses on request from the author.
Bloomsbury’s fundraising goal is £160,000 / ~$200,000 USD committed by December 31, 2023. If Bloomsbury does not raise enough funds to publish all 20 titles OA, participating institutions will still receive perpetual access to all 20 frontlist titles. If Bloomsbury raises only 50% of its target funding, participants will receive perpetual access to the 10 frontlist titles not made OA. If not all titles can be made OA, titles with the earliest publication dates or by Africa-based authors will be prioritized for OA. If a title is ultimately not published for any reason, Bloomsbury will substitute an equivalent title.
Benefits
Bloomsbury shall provide each participating institution with the following benefits:
- Unlimited perpetual access, with no ongoing access fees, to the 20 frontlist titles in the Open Collection regardless of whether they flip to OA or not.
- Twelve months of gratis access to Bloomsbury’s backlist of 194 African Studies and International Development titles. Access will be aligned to the calendar year (e.g., January-December 2024). Early adopters may opt for an alternative access period spanning August 2023 through July 2024.
- Public acknowledgement of each participating institution on Bloomsbury’s website.
Pricing
Four-year, master's, and doctoral institutions are tiered according to FTE. Community colleges have their own separate tier.
Community Colleges (all FTE) |
Colleges and Universities with <10,000 FTE |
Colleges and Universities with >10,000 FTE |
$650.00 |
$1,250 |
$1,750 |
Lyrasis has negotiated a central license agreement with the best possible terms. Participating institutions placing new orders will be asked to agree to abide by the terms at that time.
Request a Quote
