“Fund to Mission” Open Access Monograph Model at the University of Michigan: Progress Report
Channel: CNI: Coalition for Networked Information
Date: 28/12/2021

Charles Watkinson, University of Michigan
Kristen Twardowski, University of Michigan

Since fall 2020, the University of Michigan (U-M) Press has been working with its parent Library and LYRASIS to implement a new sustainability approach for publishing specialist monographs in the humanities and social sciences. By pooling support from the U-M Provost with contributions from libraries interested in advancing open access (OA), the Fund to Mission monograph model facilitates the conversion of an increasing percentage of the U-M Press’s 80-monograph-a-year frontlist output to open access without requiring inequitable author-side payments. The model is referred to as “Fund to Mission” because it seeks a sustainable economic mechanism that allows a university press to concentrate on its core mission of cultivating and disseminating high-quality research rather than chasing a shrinking pool of sales revenue. This project briefing will describe progress so far, the challenges that have been encountered, and the prospects for replicating this model across the university press landscape. The presenters will place Fund to Mission in the context of similar “Subscribe to Open” type models for books (such as MIT Press’s Direct to Open and Community-led Open Publication Infrastructure for Monographs’ (COPIM) Opening the Future initiative) and explore the rapidly changing landscape of OA book funding. Emma Vecellio and Sharla Lair are collaborators on this project.

https://www.publishing.umich.edu/features/fund-to-mission
https://www.press.umich.edu/librarians
 
Learn more: https://www.cni.org/topics/economic-models/fund-to-mission-open-access-monograph-model-at-the-university-of-michigan-progress-report
 
Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
Presented at Fall 2021 Membership Meeting
Virtual: December 7-9, 2021
In-Person: December 13-14, 2021
 
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