About
Opening the Future in summary
Opening the Future is a monograph subscription model that makes library funds go further through its collective membership scheme: achieving the dual objectives of enhancing collections while also supporting open access. Members pay a small annual fee to get DRM-free, unlimited access to a closed selection of the well-regarded CEU Press backlist, with perpetual access after three years. The membership revenue is used only to produce new OA monographs, without forcing authors to find funding for book processing charges (BPCs). The programme was shortlisted for an ALPSP Innovation in Publishing Award soon after launching.
What members get
Member libraries and institutions have unlimited, simultaneous access to all titles in the package they’ve subscribed to during the term of their three year membership. You get perpetual access to that package at the end of your three year membership. You may sign up for access to more than one package at any time - this membership and package access will also be for a minimum of three years. Packages are hosted by non-profit Project MUSE and come with MARC and KBART, and COUNTER-compliant statistics.
Banding and fees
Library and institutional members are banded according to their size, as recognised by Lyrasis and Jisc. Based on this, our annual membership fees are:
• €1260 high tier, per year ($1,496 USD / £1,050 GBP)
• €840 medium tier, per year ($998 USD / £735 GBP)
• €368 lower tier, per year ($446 USD / £315 GBP)
How to sign up
USA & Canada
Sign up via LyrasisUK
Sign up via JiscRest of World
Sign up via our siteAbout CEU Press
Established in 1993 to reflect the intellectual strengths and values of its parent institution, CEU Press is a leading publisher in the history of 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 around 40 new titles a year and has a large backlist of over 500 titles with e-books already available through several platforms.
Sustainable funding for OA monographs
When the revenue target is met and the entire monograph frontlist is OA, future membership fee rates can be lowered or we can consult our member community on other options, for example supporting other open infrastructures. The model has support from Lyrasis and Jisc who assist with organising library participation in the programme. Membership is open to libraries and institutions worldwide. There are no catches and no hidden fees - members won’t be asked to pay more on top of their annual fee to access ‘more’ or ‘better’ titles. Packages won’t suddenly change.
Key benefits of OtF
All the revenue from the membership is used to fund the frontlist to be OA. Library membership fees pay for only those books that do not already have funding. If a proposal for a book comes to CEU Press with partial OA funding, the Press will use Opening the Future membership fees to share the production costs and publish the book OA.
The aim of this approach is to continue to yield a sustainable source of revenue for the Press while achieving the desired commitment to making more titles OA. Given ever-present budget pressures, a consortial model of funding promises a cost-effective solution for OA that means no single institution bears a disproportionate burden, while all benefit.
A three-year commitment to receive perpetual access to 50 titles and simultaneously fund new OA books is less than half an average BPC for a single book at many commercial publishers.
Supported by the Copim Community
Copim is an international partnership of researchers, universities, librarians, publishers and infrastructure providers supported by the Research England Development Fund (REDFund) and by Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. CEU Press were assisted by Copim in implementing Opening the Future. You can find out more about the Copim Community and its other open infrastructures at www.copim.ac.uk.
