Open access books
Supporting institutional goals through open access book publishing
Open access (OA) books are peer-reviewed books made freely available online for anyone to read, download, and share, supporting wider and more equitable access to knowledge.
At Taylor & Francis, we are a leader in open access books publishing. We have published over 3,000 open access books since 2013 across humanities, social sciences, and STEM. Your users can start reading for free on the Taylor & Francis eBook platform, and you can get in touch if you’d like access to KBART files or usage reports for your institution.
We are a Gold Sponsor of the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), a global index of trusted open access books. This partnership reflects our commitment to quality, transparency, and long-term discoverability for scholarship.
Why open access books matter
Open access books have the potential to significantly enhance how people engage with academic work by making in-depth, longform research freely accessible to everyone. When published Open Access, books can more easily reach diverse audiences regardless of location or budget and as such play an important role in fostering a deeper understanding of the world’s most pressing challenges. Making books Open Access offers a valuable opportunity to expand the reach and impact of academic knowledge on a global scale.
Our research shows that on average, our open access books are accessed 14× more often than non-OA titles, and books published as open access receive over twice as many citations. This increases the reach of your institution’s research and the real-world impact it can achieve.
Books containing open access chapters show similar benefits, seeing around twice as many views and downloads, and being accessed from 70% more institutions and countries than comparable titles. This supports wider engagement with your institution’s research.
Institutions
For institutions, open access books can help to:
Increase visibility and impact of research
Support equitable access regardless of budget or location
Align with Open Science and public engagement priorities
Demonstrate leadership in scholarly communication, particularly in humanities and social sciences where long-form research is vital
Authors
For authors, open access publishing can support:
Higher readership and engagement with long-form scholarship
Increased citation potential for both books and chapters
Influence beyond academia, including cultural, policy and professional practice
Our open access books journey
2013
First Routledge and CRC Press OA books published. Joined OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association).
2016–2017
Partnership with Knowledge Unlatched, joined OAPEN and started hosting OA content on OAPEN platform.
2020–2021
First publisher to release books open data policy, Joined SCOAP3 for Books initiative.
2023
Celebrated a decade of OA book publishing. 1,500th OA book published, 600+ different funders milestone reached. Launch of Pledge to Open collective funding initiative.
Today
More than 3,000 open access books and 40,000+ OA chapters are available worldwide on taylorfrancis.com.
Find and use open access books
All Taylor & Francis open access books can be discovered and used directly through our website.
This means that your library can:
Add titles to catalogues and discovery systems
Include chapters in teaching and learning
Share links without additional licensing steps
How to find open access books:
Visit www.taylorfrancis.com
Apply the open access filter in the search results
Browse by subject, collection, or title
Open access books can be used across your institution without additional licensing costs, helping libraries support teaching and research efficiently within existing budgets.
Institutions often choose to manage Taylor & Francis books through taylorfrancis.com, our platform that supports integration with library systems. If your institution does not yet have access, our team can help set this up.
Pledge to Open
Pledge to Open is a collaborative funding model where libraries work together to support the publication of new OA books in key subject collections. Over 40 institutions have already made nearly 60 new titles freely available, expanding access to research in over 70 countries.
Support open access book publishing at your institution
Libraries and Research Officers play an important role in supporting authors to publish open access. We aim to offer flexible approaches to help institutions fund open access book publishing, including collaborative models and direct support for Book Publishing Charges (BPCs).
These options make it easier for researchers to publish open access while helping institutions achieve their open research and impact goals.
OA Book Funds
Flexible funding routes to help libraries or research offices support Book Publishing Charges (BPCs) for their authors. These funds make it easier for researchers to publish OA, offer reduced prices, and increase visibility for institutional research. Institutions are already seeing the benefits, such as the Lisbon School of Architecture which used a fund to publish OA books read across four continents.
Our partnership with Knowledge Unlatched
Knowledge Unlatched enables libraries to collectively fund open access books. These living collections continue to grow over time, expanding global access to high-quality research.
Supporting your researchers
Share our Author Services website with your researchers to help them understand the benefits of publishing an open access book and what to expect during the process.