OPEN BOOK PUBLISHERS COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY

Their core work

Open Book Publishers is a Cambridge-based community interest company (social enterprise) dedicated to open access academic publishing, with a strong focus on humanities and social sciences monographs. They provide publishing infrastructure and expertise to EU-funded projects building open science ecosystems for scholarly communication. Their real-world contribution lies in making research monographs freely accessible while developing sustainable models for open access book publishing in Europe. As a mission-driven SME, they bridge the gap between academic research outputs and public accessibility.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Open Book Publishers entered H2020 in 2017 through HIRMEOS, focused on technical integration of research monographs into open science platforms — a back-end infrastructure role. By 2019, their involvement shifted toward broader scholarly communication strategy (OPERAS-P) and humanities-specific graduate training and public engagement (artes EUmanities). This suggests a move from purely technical publishing infrastructure toward shaping open access policy and academic culture in the humanities.

Moving from technical publishing infrastructure toward strategic roles in shaping how humanities research is disseminated and made publicly accessible across Europe.

How they like to work

Open Book Publishers has never coordinated an H2020 project, consistently serving as a participant or third party — a specialist contributor brought in for their publishing and open access expertise. Despite their small size, they have worked with 44 unique partners across 19 countries, indicating they are well-networked within the European open science community. Their role pattern suggests they are a trusted niche provider that larger consortia recruit for specific publishing and dissemination capabilities.

Remarkably broad network for a small publisher: 44 consortium partners across 19 countries, built through participation in large research infrastructure projects. Their connections span universities, research libraries, and digital humanities centers across Europe.

What sets them apart

Open Book Publishers occupies a rare niche as a mission-driven open access book publisher structured as a community interest company — combining commercial agility with social purpose. Unlike large commercial publishers or university presses, they are specifically built around making academic monographs freely available, which makes them an ideal partner for EU projects requiring genuine open access publishing expertise. Their Cambridge base and CIC structure give them credibility in both academic and policy circles.

Highlights from their portfolio

• OPERAS-P
  Their largest funded project (EUR 132,812), preparing the ground for open access scholarly communication across the entire European Research Area.
• HIRMEOS
  Directly aligned with their core mission — integrating research monographs into European open science infrastructure, demonstrating their technical publishing capabilities.
• artes EUmanities
  Unusual involvement as a publisher in a humanities graduate school project, signaling their expanding role from publisher to broader academic ecosystem partner.