Business models for publishing open access books used by Brazilian university presses

Introduction: There is a growing trend among Brazilian University Presses (BUPs) to publish scientific and academic books in open access, making them available online. To this end, the BUPs adopt one or more business models, especially focussed on how to finance the publishing of books. Objective: The research here presented aimed to describe the business models and sources of funding used by the BUPs to fund the publication of academic and scientific e-books in open access. Methodology: Document research was carried out to survey the editorial policies accessible from the websites of 92 BUPs of Brazilian public higher education institutions. In most cases, after analysing the documents available on the websites, it was possible to identify the business models adopted for open access publishing. A questionnaire was also applied to the BUPs to identify, from the semi-structured questions, other details on the business models, which supplemented information not found on the university press websites. Results: The results reveal that 94.6% of participating BUPs publish books in open access, exclusively or associated with print book sales. The following business models adopted to finance editorial activities and open book publications were identified: institutional funding, cross-subsidies, grants, shared infrastructure, partnerships with university libraries, donations, book processing fees, release, hybrid and embargo period publishing. Conclusion: The research shows that, by aligning themselves to the open science movement in general and open access movement for book publishing specifically, BUPs adopt innovative editorial practices, but face challenges in terms of their financial sustainability.