Rice Author Open Access Fees: OA Book Subventions and TOME

Fondren Library’s Open Access Book Subvention Fund is intended to heighten the visibility and accessibility of the University's scholarship and to support current Rice employees and students who choose to make their books freely available in an electronic open access (OA) version.

In view of this goal, Rice University joined the Towards an Open Monograph Ecosystem (TOME) initiative of the Association of American Universities, Association of Research Libraries, and Association of University Presses, for fiscal years 2020-2022. Although the TOME pilot is now completed, Fondren is still open to funding subventions with publishers of open access books, many of whom continue to offer arrangements similar to those developed under the TOME initiative.

Author eligibility

All current Rice faculty, staff and graduate students are eligible to apply for funding.  Alumni, visiting scholars and complementary employees are not eligible.

Preference is given to research or scholarship primarily conducted by Rice employees or students.

Authors are expected to exhaust other funding sources and use appropriate research grant funds to pay publication charges, when possible. Authors should consider the library funds as a last resort when no other sources of funding are available. In some cases, an author may receive subvention funding if they explain why discretionary grant funding was used for other purposes. 

Publisher eligibility

Inquiring authors are encouraged to consult with the OA Book Subvention Fund reviewers regarding the eligibility and quality of open access publishers prior to submitting manuscripts. Email your questions to openaccess@rice.edu. The following guidelines are preferred:

• Publishers should maintain high standards of peer review, editorial support, and marketing for OA books, on a level of parity with their own print publications. Membership in OASPA, or standards of practice in keeping with OASPA membership, is preferred (https://oaspa.org/membership/membership-criteria/).
• Open access books should be available for download free of charge immediately after publication, or in certain cases, on a clearly defined timeline after publication.
• The book should be published under a Creative Commons (CC) license, selected by the author in consultation with the publisher and Fondren Library’s Digital Scholarship Services staff (openaccess@rice.edu). 
• Authors shall retain copyright of their books.
• The open access version of the book should be the electronic version of record.
• The published book should acknowledge the sponsorship of “Fondren Library, Rice University”.
• Publishers should ensure wide distribution of the open version through distributing it and its metadata to platforms such as the Directory of Open Access Books, HathiTrust, MuseOpen, JSTOR and OAPEN.
• A copy of the book shall be uploaded to the Rice Research Repository (R-3) by Fondren Library’s Digital Scholarship Services staff.

Book eligibility

Fondren Library expects OA book subvention funding to be used according to two main models.

In one model, the library funds the publication of an academic monograph by a Rice author or co-author following terms similar to those of the TOME initiative of the Association of Research Libraries. TOME's listed subvention rate was $15,000 for a monograph of up to 90,000 words published with a press on the list of TOME publishers from the Association of University Presses. Fondren is open to publishing books following the TOME model or a similar arrangement with an established academic or commercial publisher. Examples of Rice-faculty authored books published under TOME or similar model include the following books:

• A Future History of Water by Andrea Ballestero (2019)
• Energopolitics by Dominic Boyer (2019)
• Ecologics by Cymene Howe (2019)
• Interplay of Things by Anthony Pinn (2021)
• Deathlife by Anthony Pinn (2024)
• Gender by the Book by Julie Fette (2024)
• Collaborative Settler Colonialism by Sidney Lu (forthcoming Feb. 2025)

In another model, Fondren provides subventions for lower-cost OA books, including collections edited or co-edited by Rice authors; or for chapters by Rice authors in an OA edited collection. In the case of chapters by Rice authors, the subvention may be limited to the total cost of the book multiplied by the Rice author’s proportional contribution (e.g. 20% of the collection’s total cost when a Rice author has written one of five chapters). The entire collection should be published as an OA ebook in this case. The typical limit for the library’s support of edited collections and book chapters will be $3,500. Examples of edited collections funded in this second model include:

• Anthropocene Unseen, edited by Cymene Howe and Anand Pandian, punctum books 2020
• Experimenting with Ethnography, edited by Andrea Ballestero and Brit Ross Winthereik, Duke UP 2021

In a new approach to OA book subventions, Fondren has also funded image rights for the OA release of the book Giedion and America by Reto Geiser from gta Verlag. In this case, the publisher released a new edition of the book OA without charge and Prof. Geiser negotiated new image licenses with the rights holders.

Books will only be funded as allowed by remaining book subvention funds for the current fiscal year. If an author applies for funding when insufficient funds remain, they may enter a wait list for funds in the new fiscal year as their publication schedules allow. 

Applying for funds

To apply for funding, email openaccess@rice.edu with your Rice affiliation and contact info, as well as a description of your publication.

Please supply a letter from the publisher, or have the publisher email openaccess@rice.edu, stating its intent to publish the book, the level of support it requires to make the book open, its plans for distributing and marketing the OA version, and any significant departures from the publisher eligibility guidelines above. Publishers who are not OASPA members must describe their review and editorial selection processes and confirm their capacity to produce and market an open digital book to a high standard.

Funding is released upon presentation of a signed publisher contract which outlines the agreement for open access publication. TOME supplies an example OA publishing contract and guide on its Documentation page. Publishers should also supply an invoice. 

Authors are encouraged to consult with Fondren’s Digital Scholarship Services (openaccess@rice.edu) before signing OA contracts or agreements. In addition, the organization Think Check Submit provides a checklist for evaluating publishers for books and chapters. 

Other support for OA books

Fondren Library also supports the publication of OA academic books through our pledge for the Scholarled initiative and membership in the Open Book Collective, pledges to Knowledge Unlatched, and participation in MIT Press Direct.