Opening the Future: A New Model for Open Access Books

Central European University Press

Established in 1993 and reflecting the intellectual strengths and values of the Central European University, CEU Press is a leading publisher in the history of the region, communism and transitions to democracy. It is widely recognised as the foremost English language university press dedicated to research on Central and Eastern Europe and the former communist countries. It publishes over 30 new monographs and research-based edited collections a year with a backlist of over 500 titles. 

The diversity of the region is reflected in the Press’s publications and its commitment to bring new voices to the world. Stringent peer review, editorial and production standards are a feature of the press.


The New Model

This new model brings publishers and librarians together to ensure that quality monographs are published open access affordably and sustainably. It ensures that collections can grow at vastly reduced rates and demonstrates that funding future OA books can cost a fraction of closed monographs.

We aim to make 25+ frontlist titles per annum OA on publication through a funding model that is based on an annual subscription to a package of 50 key backlist titles, converting to perpetual ownership after three years. Tiered pricing for all sizes of institutions is part of this novel variant of the subscribe to open model (S2O). 

Membership of the OtF community - without subscribing to the backlist - is also available. See our FAQs.

Shortlisted jointly with COPIM by ALPSP for their Innovation in Publishing award 2021.

Open Access for Books

Open Access for us refers to the works that are the foundation blocks of Humanities and Social Sciences and without which our civilisation stands little chance of becoming fairer, more equitable and more inclusive. 

Open access for books is now high on the international policy agenda. Many models are prohibitive, though, for authors who do not have funding. Book Processing Charges (BPCs), for example, worsen inequality by favouring the most wealthy institutions and authors, whereas collective library funding models like ours seek to spread the funding of OA books so that no single institution bears a disproportionate cost. The move to OA monographs must be a sustainable and bibliodiverse one - it must be sustainable for presses like ours and also for libraries.