Insights on the author perspective from a small, scholar-led publisher

Presentation delivered as part of a 2-day workshop at the 2nd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access: Centering Social Justice in Scholarly Communication to Advance Research as a Public Good (University of Cape Town, 8-14 December 2024). The second summit focused on integrating social justice into scholarly communication. It highlighted the necessity of making research a public good by ensuring equitable access and participation across diverse communities. The summit attracted over 1,100 participants from 73 countries and featured discussions on decolonization, inclusivity, and the role of language diversity in academic publishing.

The Open Monograph Publishing Workshop, hosted by Copim and the Association of African Universities (9-10 December 2024), explored strategies and mechanisms to move towards sustainable open access (OA) book publishing ecosystems in Global South contexts. The event brought together librarians, publishers and those developing open research strategies to collaboratively work towards new ways of supporting longform (book) Diamond OA publishing. Plenary sessions explored routes for securing bibliodiverse, equitable publishing futures, alongside case studies from librarians highlighting innovative local approaches, and from publishers highlighting new and experimental publishing practices while parallel sessions provided opportunities for hands-on skills building and collaboration.

The presentation was part of the day one breakout session: Getting concrete in OA book publishing (1). Delegates chose one of three themes. Each session began with an introduction, followed by collective discussion, before each group reported back to the wider group.

Breakout 3: OA books from an author perspective

Sharing questions and experiences. Discussion led by Joe Deville (Mattering Press/Lancaster University/Open Book Collective) & Alessandra Tosi (Open Book Publishers)