Supporting learned society, subject association, and smaller specialist publishers to transition to open access book publishing (SPA OPS 4.0 project)

UKRI, in partnership with the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers(ALPSP), the British Academy, and Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association(OASPA), commissioned Information Power to develop independent advice and a toolkitthat can support learned society, subject association, and smaller specialist publishers toexplore a range of potential strategies and business models through which they cantransition successfully to OA. These publishers play an important role in the research andscholarly communications ecosystem. In order to offer a framework for helping stakeholders to make decisions and prioritizeactions and investments, a shared vision is essential. During the project we worked withthe full range of stakeholders to craft one. It sets out a clear and compelling future thatall stakeholders can aspire to. It also serves as a reference point and provides abenchmark against which progress can be measured. The recommendations in the report support this vision for OA books. We conclude thatchange is needed from all stakeholders – funders, libraries/consortia, and supply chainpartners in addition to publishers – if OA book publishing is to scale up and besuccessful. We set out recommendations for stakeholders in the Conclusion andRecommendations section. How to Begin the OA Transition: a guide for smaller and specialist publishers wasdeveloped as part of our project and accompanies this report. It provides more detailedadvice and guidance for both independent publishers and those who work with largerpublishing partners.