0803 edvol erc

Edited volumes

This information is for anyone involved in publication of an edited volume in the role of editor. Are you contributing as an author? Please select the ‘book chapter’ publication type.  

ERC (Horizon Europe) requires that all research outputs be published immediately as open access. This also applies to edited volumes. The following routes may be suitable:  

  • Diamond open access 
  • Gold open access  
  • Green open access, with immediate open access publication of the entire book 
  • Self-publishing 

Diamond open access 

What is Diamond open access? 

  • Publication is immediately open access. 
  • Publishing free of charge for authors and editor(s). 
  • Publication has an open licence (CC BY, if necessary CC BY-NC and/or -ND). 

How does the funding work? 

In Diamond open access the authors and editors does not have to pay publication costs. The publishers are funded by the academic community. Some publishers ask for a voluntary contribution. Your faculty may have funding avalable for this (see Faculty policy).

Where do I find publishers and more information? 

Gold open access 

What is Gold open access? 

  • Publication is immediately open access. 
  • Involves publication costs (BPCs). 
  • Publication has an open licence, preferably CC BY. 

How does the funding work? 

You are allowed to pay the BPCs from your research budget. 

Where can I find publishers? 

In the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) you will find publishers who are experienced in publishing open access books. 

Green open access  

What is green open access?   

  • You publish the book closed access with the publisher.  
  • A version (usually the accepted manuscript) is immediately made open access via the UU Repository or an external repository such as OAPEN Library. 
  • This route is free of charge.  
  • However, the chances of finding a publisher willing to cooperate with this are slim.  

What should I do as an editor? 

Let your prospective publisher know as soon as possible that you are obliged to make your entire collection available via the green route without an embargo. The publisher has the right to reject your collection on these grounds.   

Self-publishing 

For certain types of edited volumes, involving a publisher may not be necessary. Examples are conference proceedings or a festschrift. For these volumes, publisher services such as peer review and marketing are less relevant. Self-publishing them may be a good option.

What is self-publishing?  

  • You publish on an open platform. 
  • You do not use a publisher or the services a publisher offers. 
  • Your publication is immediately open access. 
  • This route is free for authors. 
  • The publication has an open licence (CC BY). 

How do I follow this route?  

Possible publishing tools include GitHub and Manifold. You can also publish your book as a collection in an external repository such as Knowledge Commons or Zenodo. Both are indexed in Google Scholar and assign DOIs to every upload; this ensures your publication is visible and discoverable. You can choose which open licence to publish under, preferably CC BY.