Diversifying readership through open access
A usage analysis for open access books
Abstract
In 2019 Springer Nature worked with COARD to analyse usage data relating to almost 4,000 books, including 281 OA books. Our goal was to better understand the extent to which usage of OA books differs from usage of closed books, looking not only at the number of downloads but also at their geographical distribution. The findings show that for every book type, every discipline and across all time since publication, OA books are reaching more readers, in more countries, including more readers in low- and lower-middle-income countries.
Copyright (c) 2020 Ros Pyne

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).