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Publishing Open Access books with Bristol University Press

Our Open Access ethos
Discoverability and accessibility
Expert support and guidance
Publishing with integrity and confidence
Gold Open Access monographs
Costs for Gold Open Access
Green routes to Open Access for books
OpenUP Early Career Researcher (ECR) monograph initiative
What is the process for publishing an Open Access title with you?
Where can I find out about your Open Access books?
Open Access books FAQs

Download a pdf about publishing Open Access with Bristol University Press here

What are the benefits of publishing Open Access?

"I see it as vital that health inequalities research has the widest reach possible – OA makes this possible and as a non-profit publisher, Policy Press better espouses the values of the OA movement and of the public health field."
Clare Bambra, Professor of Public Health, Newcastle University, UK. Editor of Health in Hard Times: Austerity and Health Inequalities

Our Open Access ethos

At Bristol University Press we believe that research should have as wide a reach as possible and be put to use in making a difference in supporting social change and social justice. Our Open Access books programme is part of our commitment to achieve this. Research has shown that Open Access publications have a wider readership and more online mentions than non-Open Access books and we wholeheartedly support it as a means to amplify social science perspectives for social good.

“Our research on lay participation in judicial proceedings seeks to directly influence policy and practice. Publishing it Open Access removes traditional barriers and gives us the opportunity to disseminate our findings across the widest possible audience.”
Jessica Jacobson, Director, Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research, Birkbeck, University of London, UK. Editor of Participation in Courts and Tribunals

As a non-commercial university press, we provide an ethical home for Open Access publications, offering fair fees representing our true publishing costs, and valuing dissemination over profitability. As a press with a social mission operating at the heart of the scholarly endeavour, we champion Open Access as a fairer and more equitable way of publishing research and reaching audiences globally. As a press with a 25-year history of supporting academic communities, we work to ensure a sustainable approach to Open Access that can help reshape the scholarly communications landscape for years to come.

We published our first Open Access books in 2011. View all our Open Access books here.

Discoverability and accessibility

All Open Access titles (including imprint Policy Press) are indexed by the relevant Abstracting & Indexing services, including the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB);
They are hosted on a variety of digital platforms, including the OAPEN Library, EBSCO and JSTOR;
BUP Open Access books have a truly global reach with over 200 countries accessing our Open Access books content;
All books receive comprehensive content marketing carried out by our dedicated sales and marketing team to ensure your research is accessed by a global readership;
All Open Access titles are preserved in Portico (via Open Access platform partners JSTOR and OAPEN).

Expert support and guidance

Our publishing commitment puts authors and readers at the heart of what we do, and our author service is central to the way we work;
Our in-house editorial team will ensure your research gets the expert attention to detail it deserves while coordinating a smooth and efficient path to publication undergoing our consistently high editorial and production workflow processes;
Quality is paramount at BUP, and Open Access titles go through exactly the same editorial processes as all our books. Working with a trusted team of copy editors and peer reviewers we ensure high editorial standards with a rigorous two-stage peer review and highly regarded author-focused production process.

Publishing with integrity and confidence

All Open Access books are published under a Creative Commons license. Our recommended licence is CC-BY-NC-ND but all other Creative Commons’ licences are available on request and we comply with all funder requirements;
All BUP authors retain full copyright of their Open Access books;
Flexibility in digital format - all BUP Open Access books are published in ePub and ePDF format.

Gold Open Access monographs

All books published Gold Open Access are:

• subject to rigorous peer review at proposal and typescript stage as for all our books;
• professionally copy-edited and proof read;
• produced with high-quality design and typesetting.

Costs for Gold Open Access

Our Open Access monograph offering is a gold route to Open Access dissemination that requires payment of a publishing charge to cover publication costs. Our charges are dependent on page length as follows:

Format	Charge
Shorts: 30-44K words	£6000 + VAT
Shorts/Monographs: 45-59K words	£7500 + VAT
Monographs: 60-94K words	£9000 + VAT
Monographs: 95-120K words	£11000 + VAT
Rapid Responses: 20-40K words	£5000 + VAT

VAT/taxes where applicable

A 10% discount is available for authors from institutions who subscribe to the full Bristol University Press and Policy Press Journals Collection.

To discuss all available options, please contact the appropriate commissioning editor for your discipline. Information can be found on our contact us and subject area pages, or you can contact Journals Director Julia Mortimer (julia.mortimer@bristol.ac.uk) for any generic queries.

Green routes to Open Access for books

We facilitate Green Open Access routes as well as Gold. For more information, please see our self-archiving and institutional repository policy.

OpenUP Early Career Researcher (ECR) monograph initiative

Bristol University Press are proud to be part of a collaborative project to secure funding for a number of first books by UK-based early-career researchers. Six University Presses are taking part in this three-year pilot project which aims to raise £96,000 per year to fund Open Access publication for 12 books in each period. Find out more.

What is the process for publishing an Open Access title with you?

We following the Open Access book publishing process as explained in this graphic from OAPEN:

A graphic of the OA book publishing process

Find more details on each of these sections in the OAPEN toolkit.

Where can I find out about your Open Access books?

You can view our full range of Open Access books by clicking here.

Open Access books FAQs

You can download an FAQs pdf here.