Arc’s Approach
We recognise Open Access publishing as an important way of ensuring the best new research in medieval and related studies receives as broad an audience as possible, and as a key aspect of how we disseminate, raise, and develop each author’s publishing profile. We also know that humanities scholars are avid readers, so as part of our Open Access policy we produce a delayed paperback of your book with pricing sensitive to the individual book-purchaser’s budget in order to increase the accessibility of your research.
Funding
Our funding model works like this:
1. Institutions and Research Bodies – “Gold Open Access”
Authors are asked to seek direct funding first from research bodies if their research has been independently funded (i.e., from outside their home institution); failing that, from their dean, research office, their university, or a foundation for which they are eligible. If these avenues are exhausted or the scholar is not eligible for such funds (e.g., is an early careers or contingent researcher, an independent scholar, or from a poorly-funded environment), then Arc will consider your book for:
2. Crowdfunding through our Open Book Collective Initiative – “Diamond Open Access”
From spring 2025, the Open Book Collective (OBC) will be raising library subscriptions on Arc’s behalf, and these will contribute an important extra funding stream to Arc’s Open Access book program. OBC has developed this scheme to ensure small-scale publishers like ourselves can transition towards fuller integration of Open Access. This agreement replaces Arc’s inhouse “New Voices” program. For more information see New Voices and also see OBC initiative. Please recommend Arc’s Initiative with OBC to your own library to help promote the Open Access ecosystem for small academic publishers.
Hosting of Arc’s Open Access Volumes
Books published under Arc’s Open Access model are made immediately available on publication. A PDF version of the published book is downloadable for free on Europe’s leading platform, OAPEN, based at the Dutch Royal Library, and Project MUSE, at Johns Hopkins University, and JSTOR, in New York City. Publications are automatically then listed in the Directory of Open Access Books, which is the central register for OA publications worldwide and used by librarians to identify such publications.
Creative Commons Licence
We recommend the CC BY-NC-ND licence, which we think is the most suitable Creative Commons licence for humanities monographs, and which many authors prefer. Alternatives are possible and we consider requests of funding agencies as well as the wishes of the author. The particular licence is agreed in the contract and specified on the copyright page of the publication.
Next Steps
Our proposal form asks you some simple questions about Open Access, to start the process of discussion. If you are at a pre-proposal stage, talk to your acquisitions editor as early as possible about Open Access.
All longform monographs and thematic collections of articles can be published Open Access. Individual journal articles and book chapters can also be published Open Access. Classroom texts and the Past Imperfect series are excluded from the program.
Our costs. A recent study, across a wide range of university presses and academic-led presses like ourselves, shows that the costs of publishing a monograph are typically between $28,000 and $48,000. Arc’s costs are generally a third of the lower end of this scale, due to our lean, efficient structure run by a team of committed publishing and acquisitions professionals around the world on a remote-working business model. This allows us to offer OA rates lower than most publishers.
For Gold Open Access, a standard academic monograph of 70,000-100,000 words costs £7,500 (exclusive of any sales tax, if applicable). An article of up to 10,000 words costs £750 (exclusive of any sales tax, if applicable). Your acquisitions editor can provide a quote tailored to the specification of your manuscript (e.g. for lower and higher extents, or heavily illustrated submissions).
Click here for a full list of Arc’s Open Access books Directory of Open Access Books
