Taylor & Francis set to open over 50 book titles with Knowledge Unlatched

Initiative enables researchers in disciplines and regions with limited open access publishing support to join Taylor & Francis’ leading OA Books program

Business Announcement

TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP

Taylor & Francis is delighted to announce the results of Knowledge Unlatched (KU) 2023, with support pledged to convert over 50 book titles to open access (OA). Titles to benefit from this support cover a broad range of humanities and social science disciplines as well as key topic areas, including climate change, global health, and gender studies.

Under the KU crowdfunding model, research libraries around the world unite to support the publication costs of new eBooks and enable access for all to important new research. Since 2016, when Taylor & Francis’ partnership with Knowledge Unlatched began, over 100 books have been published OA at no cost to the authors. OA books now available address a wide variety of important issues, including artificial intelligence, terrorism and social media, as well as environmental policy, pandemics, migration, human rights and fake news.

As in previous years, the list of Taylor & Francis books to be made OA in 2023 has a particular focus on supporting disciplines and regions where there is otherwise limited funding for traditional OA models. This includes long standing subject collections within African Studies, providing an innovative publishing solution for Africa-based scholars. Two African Studies titles recently published open access under the program include 'The South African Response to COVID-19' and 'Nigeria's Third-Generation Literature'.

Nicola Parkin, Director of Books Editorial Services at Taylor & Francis, said: “Taylor & Francis has one of the largest portfolios of OA books and we’re delighted that the latest Knowledge Unlatched pledging round will see more than 50 titles added to that list. We believe that open access is the most effective way to amplify the research that fosters human progress. That’s why our KU partnership, which prioritises research on some of the key challenges faced by our societies and our planet, is so important”.

Neil Christensen, Head of Publisher Relations at Knowledge Unlatched, added: "We are excited for the high-quality books that Taylor & Francis and their authors commit to this collective-action model for equitable open access that KU brokers. Made possible by the support of hundreds of libraries, the KU model has made more than 4,000 scholarly books open access in the past 10 years and counting. Taylor & Francis, the authors, and the supporting libraries play a fundamental role in shaping the collective knowledge of our world – and often doing so in areas that suffer from systemic funding shortage. Full details for pledging support for KU 2024 collections are due to be announced in the second week of May at knowledgeunlatched.org".

Open access makes published research freely available for anyone, anywhere to read, download and share, to ensure the widest possible reach and impact. Taylor & Francis has been publishing open access journals since 2006, and in 2013 complemented it with an open access book program. This includes books and chapters across all subjects covered by Routledge, CRC Press and their imprints in the humanities, social sciences and behavioral sciences. The Taylor & Francis open access books program allows authors and their funders to publish open access single- or co-authored books, edited collections and individual chapters. Upon publication, open access titles and chapters are made available in digital format to read and download freely under a Creative Commons license.

Responding to feedback from institutions, funders and knowledge makers, the range of innovative Taylor & Francis OA book publishing options continues to evolve, offering choice, sustainability, impact and value.

The full range of KU Select and African Studies and Gender Studies OA book collections can be accessed from Routledge.com