Numbers that tell a story: Measuring the impact of open access books

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/5.4529

Keywords:

open, access, books, research, impact

Abstract

Open access book publishing is gaining momentum, with more than 10,000 titles published worldwide. But compared to the overall number of academic books that are produced, this is still a small percentage. With much research on the benefits to society from open access publication, what can we do to encourage more book authors to choose open access?

Springer Nature is a leading academic book publisher – to date, we have published more than 550 open access books since launching OA book options in 2012. Feedback from our OA book authors has shown that metrics are important to them, as the data helps demonstrate the impact of their research to funders, and also supports conversations with their institutions for career progression. However, as highlighted in our white paper ‘The OA effect: How does open access affect the usage of scholarly books?’, some authors feel that there is a lack of information around metrics and book performance. This information may be critically important in helping authors consider the benefits of choosing to publish their book open access.

Authors also state that one of the main obstacles to publishing more OA books through the gold route is funding; access to which varies globally and by discipline – a central theme that emerged at our researcher event during Academic Book Week 2018.

Meanwhile, funders interviewed for ‘The OA Effect’ told us that they were keen to understand the impact of the OA books they had supported, but few had actually done so; many commented on the difficulties of measuring the impact of research.  

In light of these findings, in 2018 we piloted a new “impact report”, based on metrics for an individual funder of OA books. The outcomes of this pilot impact report project will help the scholarly communications community to better understand how publishers can inform funders, authors and their institutions about the impact of their research, and on a wider scale. What are the challenges of sharing the benefits of OA book publishing with researchers across different disciplines, and how can we overcome these challenges?

Our poster shows excerpts from the pilot impact report, quotes from authors and funders about research impact, and considers next steps.

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Author Biographies

Christina Emery, Springer Nature

Christina Emery is the Marketing Manager for open access books at Springer Nature. She promotes the OA book and chapter programme for two of its imprints: Palgrave Macmillan and SpringerOpen. Her previous role was Partnership Manager for the open access organisation Knowledge Unlatched. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in French with German from the University in Leeds.

Mithu Lucraft, Springer Nature

Mithu Lucraft is Director for Outreach and Open Research Marketing at Springer Nature. She has worked in academic publishing since 2004 in a variety of Marketing and Communications roles, including at Oxford University Press, Sage Publishing and Palgrave Macmillan. At Springer Nature she is responsible for promoting open books and research data services; institutional engagement with open research; as well as wider researcher content engagement strategy.

Agata Morka, Springer Nature

Agata Morka holds an MA in cultural management from University of Lille. She graduated with a PhD in architectural history from the University of Washington, Seattle. She previously worked at De Gruyter, where she managed the OA books programme. Currently she works at Springer Nature as Senior Manager, OA books.

Matteo Prandi, Springer Nature

Matteo Prandi is Senior Marketing Analytics Manager at Springer Nature. He was previously Research Analyst for KAE, a strategic marketing consultancy. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Northeastern University and a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in International and Diplocation Sciences, European Studies/Civilization from the University of Genoa.

Ros Pyne, Springer Nature

Ros Pyne is Head of Policy and Development, Open Research at Springer Nature, where she manages projects in support of the company's open access strategy and policies and heads up the open access book programme. She holds degrees in English from the University of Cambridge and King’s College London.

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Published

2018-11-20

How to Cite

Emery, C., Lucraft, M., Morka, A., Prandi, M., & Pyne, R. (2018). Numbers that tell a story: Measuring the impact of open access books. Septentrio Conference Series, (1). https://doi.org/10.7557/5.4529

Issue

No. 1 (2018): The 13th Munin Conference on Scholarly Publishing 2018

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