The challenge of open access for university presses

Abstract

ABSTRACT University presses were founded in the late 19th century to help alleviate a problem of market failure, namely insufficient demand in the commercial marketplace to sustain a publishing operation on the basis of sales alone. Now, in the face of claims about another type of market failure – insufficient funds to sustain library subscriptions to STM journals – calls have come forth to change the economic model of publishing from sales‐based to grants‐based, offering the fruits of knowledge free to all users with an Internet connection. This paper examines both the challenges and the opportunities that the variants of ‘open access’ present to university presses, as they seek to fulfill their traditional mission of disseminating knowledge ‘far and wide’ while remaining sustainable as businesses.

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