In this episode I reunite with Kevin Sanders (Open Access Engagement Lead, Copim/Open Book Collective) to talk about his work in the realm of making open access monographs more of a reality. We explore how Copim (Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs) originated via the Radical Open Access conference of 2018, and how it has gone on to a pivotal force for change within open scholarly communications for books. Along the way we contrast the evolving open journals scene over the past couple of decades with that of monographs today, examining how some policies and practices might resonate despite some considerable differences between these communication mechanisms. We touch on the reaction from institutions and individual academics, while Kevin explains some of the unique challenges facing a greater uptake of open access monograph publication. We close with some suggestions and advice for academics and authors wanting to explore them more for themselves.

You can explore more about the Copim here:
https://www.copim.ac.uk/

Or the Open Book Collective here:
https://openbookcollective.org/

Or to find out more about publishing with the Exchanges research journal visit: http://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/

Episode Index

00:00 – Opening

00:32 – Introductions

03:59 – What is COPIM & the Open Book Collective?

05:56 – Typical Day in the Life of Open Monographs

07:34 – Open Access Monograph Challenges

19:26 – Academic Reactions & Shifts in the Open Landscape

27:38 – What Can I Do? Advice for would be monograph authors

32:46 – Key Points & Messages

36:58 – Outro