Open Access information about books

(Last updated: 2 June 2026)

This information concerns books and articles in books. Elsewhere you can find information about OA journal articles .

Green OA/Self-archiving

Information on which versions can be self-archived in repositories is provided on our Author's Rights Page .

Open Access books

The fee for making an entire book Open Access is calculated on the basis of the expected production costs and the expected print revenue for that book. More information is available on the OA information page for book authors/editors.

OA articles in books through individual (author) APCs

We offer the possibility for contributors to edited volumes to make their article Open Access through payment of an APC. More information is available on the OA information page for book authors/editors.

Transformative Read & Publish Agreements

After the successful launch of our "Read &  Publish" model for journal articles, we have adapted this model to articles in books. A list of institutions currently participating in this model will become available soon.

Institutions interested in discussing such a Read & Publish agreement can contact us at openaccessbenjamins.nl.

Read & Publish offer

We developed our R&P offer on the basis of the 'Smooth Transition Model' which was proposed by Nina Schönfelder (University of Bielefeld). For background information:

• Schönfelder, N. (2020). Proposal for a new model of transformative agreements: A smooth transition from subscriptions to APCs. Discussion Paper, Bielefeld.
• UKSG 2022 presentation we did together with Nina Schönfelder : slides (PDF) / video-recording
• OASPA 2025 Lightning talk/Poster on the adapted R&P model for book articles.

The model is based on a single, transparent calculation that balances the purchase fee for our annual front list collection, APCs, and an offset for the total amount of Open Access book articles, to establish a gradual shift using the offset as a pivot.

Example quotation for Institution X in the September 2026 for subscription year 2027:

• The purchase price for the 2027 annual front list collection is €4950 (when ordered before 31 December 2026, after that €7450).
• On average over the preceding five full years (2021-2025), corresponding authors from Institution X have published 4 articles per year in John Benjamins books.
• JB Open Access factor: in 2025, 16% of all JB book articles were Open Access
• APC is € 1200

Advantages of this model

• No cap
• Built-in offset for participating institutions
• Transparent: the same formula for all agreements, based on known publication and subscription data
• Corresponding authors only need to ensure they include their correct affiliation; when the book enters the production process, we will check automatically whether of the articles in it are covered by an R&P agreement.