Report on Impact of Open Monographs Fund

The UC Davis Library was a founding participant in TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem), a national initiative led by the Association of Research Libraries, the Association of American Universities, and the Association of University Presses.

The five-year pilot has now come to an end, and stakeholders have released a final report on the success of the initiative. As the report shows, TOME has not only supported the publication of more than 150 open access books nationwide, the initiative has also demonstrated the value for authors, libraries, and university presses of moving scholarly book publishing toward open access.

As one UC Davis author who received funding support said:

Publishing an open access monograph through TOME made a tremendous difference to making the results of my research accessible to scholars across the world. For someone researching global issues and publishing on international topics, this is especially important.

I know from correspondence that there are readers in other countries who were able to access my work only because of it being available through digital open access, as their home institutions don’t always have the same resources to procure physical books in the library.

I am also proud that my research, funded by a public institution, is available freely to the public… This seems like an important way in which UC Davis can continue to pursue its mission as a public university serving the people of California.

— Michael Subialka, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Italian, and author of Modernist Idealism (2021)

Other authors have noted the benefit of having a trusted space for official versions of digital books; a rigorous manuscript review process; and greater affordability, accessibility, and ease of use for students and colleagues alike.

Local impact

Over the course of five years, our library has supported open access publishing of 14 scholarly monographs by UC Davis authors (seven more are in production). These titles are now available for anyone, anywhere, to read freely. The library’s support helped authors to participate in open access publishing and disseminate their research to a broader audience.

Though the national TOME Initiative has ended, several institutions, including the UC Davis Library, have already committed to continue support for open monographs. We are hoping to set aside funding for another five years to support up to three books per year.

For more information please consult our website or contact the library’s Scholarly Communication Officer Michael Ladisch (mladisch@ucdavis.edu).

Taking up the opportunity to publish with TOME has been the best publication decision that I have made in my research career. The format of open access has allowed my book to reach an international audience beyond my wildest dream.

— Eddy U, Professor of Sociology and Director of East Asian Studies, and author of Creating the Intellectual: Chinese Communism and the Rise of a Classification (2019)