Book Processing Charges

Perhaps the most common way of funding Open Access publishing is for the publisher to charge a so-called ‘Book Processing Charge’ (BPC) (even if publishers do not always use this term) to cover production costs and, in some cases, book sales revenue that might be lost by a book being made available on an Open Access basis. It is common for large commercial publishers to charge BPCs that are in excess of £10,000 for a standard academic book. Smaller and/or scholar-led Open Access presses tend to charge less. In either case, there is often the expectation that BPCs would – if funding allows – be paid for either by institutions that authors are affiliated with or by research grants, where the budget/funder permits. Many smaller academic presses state that editorial decisions are made independent of whether funds are available to pay for BPCs. 

BPCs have come in for criticism for the potential inequalities they generate in the academic publishing landscape. Within the Open Book Collective, we have argued that BPCs do not provide a viable means for scaling an equitable Open Access book publishing landscape.

Case studies


Revision #7
Created 1 June 2023 23:24:05 by Joe Deville
Updated 14 June 2023 12:48:27 by Izabella Penier