How publishers can support authors with requirements for open access books. Wednesday 13 December 2023.

1. Scottish Universities Press: supporting
authors with requirements for open
access books
Dominique Walker, SUP Publishing Officer
December 2023

2. 18 SCURL member libraries have collaborated to
develop a fully OA and not-for-profit publishing press

3. About SUP
Aims:
• To provide a clear and cost-effective route for researchers at Scottish HEIs to make their work freely
available to a global and more diverse audience, supporting researchers with changes to the
OA funder and policy landscape.
• To explore alternative approaches to academic publishing with the needs of the Scottish academic
community at the core – what can we do differently?
Scope:
• Publish fully OA monographs and edited collections in any subject by academics from member
institutions on the SUP platform with Creative Commons licences.
• Print copies available to buy via a print on demand service at a reasonable price.
• Peer review process managed by the SUP Editorial Board.
• Management Board representing each member library provides strategic direction.
• Full publishing service, including production (copyediting, proofreading, design and typesetting),
marketing, dissemination and discovery, usage statistics and preservation.

4. SUP Timeline
• Research
• Proof of concept report: https://bit.ly/41gX5r5
2019
• Consultation
• Partnership formed across 18 institutions
2020
• Governance model and Management Board established
• Project plan developed
2021
• Editorial Board formed, peer review policy, editorial workflows and content strategy
developed
• Technical infrastructure, production company sourced, financial model finalised
2022
• Call for proposals opened, first proposals received, and first books accepted for
publication
• CIC formed and contracts issued
2023
• Scaling up: content strategy review and commissioning editor role – expand to other
content types?
• Publishing commences!
2024

5. UKRI fund and the SUP model
UKRI open access fund for long-form publications: guidance about diamond and non-BPC open access models

6. Supporting authors: Costs
Subsidised model: SUP is supported by subscriptions and in-kind contributions from the member
institutions. Subscriptions cover fixed costs, such as staff salaries and platform hosting.
Band Word Count Price inc. VAT
Band A 60-80,000 Words £3500
Band B 80-100,000 Words £4500
Band C 100,000+ Words £5500
• A per-book production charge covers the variable
cost of producing the book, including copyediting,
typesetting, design and marketing.
• Charges are split in to three bands depending on
the length and complexity of the book and include
VAT.
• The production charges are set significantly lower than the maximum funding level of £10,000,
author re-assurance that UKRI funding will cover whole charge.
• Lower BPCs help the UKRI dedicated fund cover more books.
• SUP works on a completely not-for-profit basis. Any surpluses are re-invested into the Press for the
benefit of our members.

7. Supporting authors: Licences
• SUP publishes all books with Creative Commons
licences.
• UKRI allows any CC licence, but CC BY preferred.
• SUP uses CC BY-NC by default, but author can
select any CC licence on the SUP contract
information form. Links to the Creative Commons
website for further information.
• SUP staff happy to talk through the licence types
with authors.

8. Supporting authors: Third-party copyright
SUP is developing a copyright tool
with the SCURL Copyright & Legal
working group, adapted from the GCU
Copyright Advisor. Aims to help
authors understand what they can use
and how, and what they need to do to
request permissions.
SUP will also support authors by:
• Providing template letters to request permissions, including information on SUP’s not-for-profit status.
• Linking to sources of openly licenced content.
• Pointing to useful guidance, such as the UKRI’s ‘Managing third-party copyright for research
publications’ and the OA Books Toolkit website.

9. Stage 1 Application
1. Pre-submission: all information required to determine eligibility for funding clearly stated on
website (licence, costs etc.)
2. Author submits book proposal form. Author adds funding details, including grant number and
who is responsible for the production charge. SUP record as UKRI funded and informs author to
contact relevant team at research organisation.
3. Proposal is reviewed by Editorial Board and if approved is sent for external peer review.
4. Proposal accepted. SUP notifies author and reminds them to contact relevant team at RO to
submit stage 1 application (if they haven’t already!)
5. Research Organisation submits stage 1 application, confirmation sought before contract issued.
6. Author completes contract information form, including invoice details.
7. Contract issued and signed by relevant parties.

10. Stage 2 Application
1. Author writes manuscript, allowing plenty of time to clear third-party copyright
permissions.
2. Author delivers manuscript and it is sent for one more round of peer review.
3. Manuscript accepted for publication by Editorial Board.
4. SUP checks with author that invoice details still correct and issues invoice for the
production charge to Research Organisation.
5. Manuscript enters production.
6. Book published online with chosen CC licence and relevant acknowledgements.
7. SUP notifies Research Organisation that book published and available open access.
8. Relevant team at Research Organisation submits Stage 2 Application.

11. Supporting Research Organisations
As a library-led Press, SUP also aims to support Research Organisations.
• Directly communicating with relevant teams at Research Organisations, making sure our
processes and workflows meet institutional needs:
• SUP Research & Policy Working Group
• Open Research Scotland group
• Engaging with academics at research committee meetings and other events
• Publisher role to ask authors to speak to their Research Organisation about funding –
ensure authors are not applying themselves and no surprise invoices received!
• Looking at how SUP could help with other potential issues:
• Duplicate applications
• Authors moving institution
• Discoverability of OA content

12. Growth of OA institutional publishing

13. Contact
Email: info@sup.ac.uk
Website: https://sup.ac.uk
Twitter (X): @ScotUniPress
This work © 2023 by Dominique Walker is licensed under CC BY 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Chair: Hannah Whaley, Director of Library Services,
University of Dundee
Vice Chair: Jennifer Louden, Director of Library
and Learning Services, Robert Gordon University
Press Manager: Gillian Daly, Executive Officer,
SCURL
Publishing Officer: Dominique Walker