Taylor & Francis Pledge to Open Pilot

A collaborative funding open access books initiative

Pledge to Open Pilot

Taylor & Francis is delighted to announce the launch of ‘Pledge to Open’, a new collaborative funding open access books initiative, in conjunction with Jisc and other international member partners, to ensure the widest possible dissemination and impact of our research book titles. The ‘Pledge to Open’ pilot aims to transform 70 front list research book titles into open access.

Taylor & Francis’ driving mission is to foster human progress through knowledge, and this innovative pilot is centered around seven key issue-based collections, drawing on the interdisciplinary strengths within both Humanities and Social Sciences, and STEM, of the Routledge and CRC Press imprints.

‘Pledge to Open’ is designed to support open access at the point of publication, thereby maximising the opportunity for these books to reach a wide and diverse audience and drive real world impact.

Each collection will showcase 10 cutting edge research titles on a key global issue. The collections are as follows:

  • Green Renewable Energy

  • Climate Change

  • Pandemic

  • Women’s Health and Rights

  • Wellbeing and Mental Health

  • Race and Racism

  • Populism and Extremism

Participating institutions can choose which collection or collections they would like to pledge for and pay a one-off fee per collection to support its transformation to open access. In return, they receive perpetual unlimited multi-user access for the titles of the collections they pledge for, irrespective of any funding thresholds being met for this pilot.

‘Pledge to Open’ is designed to ensure that open access book content is free to read and free to publish for the author and increase participation for a wider international audience. The Pilot aims to be the first step towards building a sustainable and affordable collective funding model in Taylor & Francis’s Open Access Book Publishing Programme. As a pilot, we are keen to hear feedback from all stakeholders as we develop the model and ensure a continued successful move to open for our research book titles.

How to participate

Interested in pledging support? Please fill out the form or contact [email protected]

Based in the Americas? Please contact Jamie Hutchins, Director of Open Research [email protected]

The Collections

One of the main solutions, by governments, industry and by individuals, to the growing climate emergency continues to be the pursuit of environmentally sustainable energy sources.  This innovative collection of content draws on a balanced mixture of key STEM subject areas within engineering and technology, manufacturing, green chemistry, and material science.

The collection also benefits from the inclusion of new research titles within areas such as entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility, management of technology and innovation, industrial economics, global development, as well as urban studies and infrastructure.

To discover Taylor & Francis’ Green Renewable Energy book publishing programme, please visit our website.

The threat from climate change has become one of the great challenges of the modern age, and its impact felt more widely and severely with each passing year.  This collection of cutting-edge research titles will reflect the truly global and interdisciplinary nature of climate change research and draws from Routledge’s core strengths within environment and sustainability, as well as key titles within the Environmental Sciences from CRC Press. 

Key features:
· Builds on the Routledge-Earthscan tradition of publishing interdisciplinary works that explore contemporary issues and debates
· Includes both important emerging topics and current debates impacting our lives and the planet.
· Focuses on sustainable development from a multidisciplinary perspective, with many titles bridging the gap between natural and social sciences.

To discover Taylor & Francis’ Climate Change book publishing programme, please visit our website.

The COVID pandemic continues to affect the lives of millions worldwide, and the aftereffects will be felt for years to come.  This collection of key new research book titles explores the impact that pandemics have on a broad range of areas, including health outcomes, education, behavioural science, policy, media, and the lasting implications on society, and economic systems.

·        Includes a range of practical research titles drawn from both CRC Press and Routledge’s health programmes, whilst also looking at the broader societal impacts of pandemics
·        Draws from diverse international perspectives
·        Includes titles from a broad range of research series, as well as key standalone titles

To discover Taylor & Francis’ Pandemic book publishing programme, please visit our website.

The importance, and awareness, of the health and rights of women globally (and their interlinked nature) continues to increase, and represents one of the core focuses of the Routledge publishing programme.

This collection pulls together titles across a number of fascinating cross-disciplinary areas, including topics around the body, the family, gender and sexuality, art and the media, and feminist theory.  The collection is further strengthened by access to several key titles from health and social care, behavioural science, and other related areas.

To discover Taylor & Francis’ Women’s Health and Rights book publishing programme, please visit our website.

The recognition of the importance of mental wellbeing continues to grow, as well as the awareness of the various modern pressures, from social media to poor nutrition and social inequality, that can put stresses upon it.  This innovative collection includes new research books titles on a broad range of related areas, including:
·        Social work and social policy
·        Child and young adult’s mental health
·        Counselling
·        Health psychology
·        Environment and health
·        Disability studies

To discover Taylor & Francis’ Wellbeing and Mental Health book publishing programme, please visit our website.

This important collection includes key brand-new research titles within the Humanities and Social Sciences within the rapidly growing literature on race and racism within contemporary societies.

Drawing on a wide selection of international voices, the collection reflects Routledge’s decades long commitment to interrogating the intersections of race and racism and consequently draws from a broad number of interdisciplinary subject areas.

To discover Taylor & Francis’ Race and Racism book publishing programme, please visit our website.


This truly global, interdisciplinary collection draws on a broad range of key subject areas including politics, history, sociology, criminology, security studies, law, as well as media and cultural studies, to provide a broad, holistic view of many of the key issues facing contemporary societies in the face of political extremism.

To discover Taylor & Francis’ Populism and Extremism book publishing programme, please visit our website.

    Pilot Description

    • Pledging starts in July 2023 and finishes in July 2024

    • The pilot is open worldwide

    • Seven key issue-based collections from the Routledge and CRC Press imprints

    • Each collection includes 10 forthcoming titles which will be made OA according to funding targets per collection

    • There will be a mixture of HSS and STEM titles in most collections. The composition will vary per collection depending on the subject matter of the collection

    • Pledging amounts are based on banding levels, offering a more equitable solution for all institutions to fully participate and support open access

    • Each participating institution/library will have perpetual unlimited multi-user access to all titles of the collection/s they pledge for regardless of any funding targets

    • Participation in more than one collection is possible and a tiered discount offer is available for multiple collection pledges

    • Participation prices range per collection depending on the mixture of HSS and STEM content

    • The funding target will be supported via the pledges from institutions and consortia worldwide

    • If the funding target is met, all 10 titles within the collection will be published Open Access

    • If the funding target is not met, the number of titles published in Open Access will be reduced accordingly. For example, if only 60% of the funding target to make all 10 titles Open Access in a collection is achieved, then 6 titles will be published OA instead.

    • Taylor & Francis will proceed with publishing any titles OA if the funding level reached is more than 50% per collection

    • The full title selection for each collection will be announced by the end of the pledging period (July 2024). We aim to gradually announce titles as and when each collection reaches the funding threshold Collection pricing (GBP) and HSS/STEM ratio quick link

    Pricing of Collections by Region

    • Each collection has a separate price point which reflects its composition of HSS and STEM titles

    • Participation in more than one collection is possible and a tiered discount offer is available

    FAQs

    Each collection will consist of full length, front list research book titles (monographs and reference), including both edited and authored books. A full description of our different text types can be found on our Overview of Our Products Guide.

    The full title selection for each collection will be announced by the end of the pledging period (July 2024). We aim to gradually announce titles as and when each collection reaches the funding threshold.

    The funded book titles will be open access immediately on publication.

    We aim for all titles to be published by the end of 2024.

    All Taylor & Francis Books open access titles are published under a Creative Commons license as standard. Our preferred license is the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) license. It is our view that this license provides the best combination of dissemination and protection. Under this license, others may download your work and share it as long as they credit you, but they cannot change it in any way or use it commercially.

    Our open access authors also retain copyright of their works.

    Our open access pricing for each collection varies depending on the number of Humanities and Social Science, or STEM, titles included. This is because there are different costs associated with producing book titles within different subject fields. For example, our STEM titles will most often have more complex figures and specialist production requirements, compared to book titles within the Humanities. Therefore, collections which will include a larger proportion of STEM content (for example, Green Renewable Energy) are priced higher than those collections with more Humanities and Social Science content (for example, Populism and Extremism).

    For full coverage of our open access pricing policy, please visit our Open Access Publication Charges.

    The selection of all titles for a collection will be confirmed and the open access book publication will start depending on the production cycle for each book. Updates will be available via our website. Once a collection reaches its funding target, pledging will be closed for those books. As this is a pilot, if a collection reaches the funding target, it will be considered a success and will allow for the launch of further similar initiatives. 

    It is our intention to gather feedback whenever possible from libraries, institutions, consortia and other key stakeholders. This is important so we have a holistic overview when we evaluate the pilot results and plan for future initiatives. Please contact the Taylor & Francis Open Access Books team ([email protected]) for any feedback you might have that is not related to pledging support.

    Yes, as with all our open access book titles, print copies will also be available for purchase from Routledge.com and other booksellers, for those who prefer hardcopy versions.

    Pledge to Open is designed to provide an equitable option that doesn’t rely on authors, including those in low-income countries, having access to funding to cover OA publishing charges. However, the Pledge to Open pilot would welcome support from institutions in any part of the globe who would like to pledge. Please contact us at [email protected] to discuss your requirements.

    For Jisc members interested in pledging support please apply via the Jisc License subscriptions manager catalogue

    For non-UK institutions interested in pledging support please fill out the form to the right or contact [email protected]