Open access e-books: The role of the institution

Abstract

This article explains the policy position taken by University College London (UCL) in establishing the UCL Press. It sets the creation of the Press against the background of national open access (OA) policy development in the UK. UCL Press, repatriated from a commercial provider, was relaunched as an OA press as part of UCL Library Services on 1 August 2013. The Press will publish both OA electronic journals and OA monographs, with a particular emphasis in the latter on the arts, humanities and social sciences. UCL is largely funding Press activity from its own internal funds, seeing OA as an opportunity rather than a threat.