The scholarly monograph and the challenges of Open Access

Abstract

Scholarly monographs still play an important role in the university, despite the crisis due to the deep transformations occurred in scientific communication. Academic publishers have made several attempts to overcome this critical juncture, and they took into consideration the Open Access model (note that – since the beginning – the OA movement has focused mainly on articles, paying very little attention to monographs). On the other hand, in recent years the role of academic publishers within the OA movement has changed, and they're no longer seen as antagonists. The author demonstrates how Open Access books were born in a publishing context rather than in an academic one, and describes the latest updates in OA scholarly monographs.