Book publication funding model 

All our readers and authors enjoy the benefits of open access to our scholarly books, which promotes accessibility and global discoverability, serving the best interests of the scholarly scientific community, researchers, policy-makers and the wider public. Since no open-access book access is charged, AOSIS offsets the publication expenses – including those of peer review management, book production and online hosting and archiving – by charging an upfront publication fee to authors, institutions or funders.

 

AOSIS and its Chief Commissioning Editor of Scholarly Books can help the author obtain funding from their higher education institution once the manuscript has been invited for submission upon recommendation by the AOSIS Scholarly Books Domain Editorial Board, which will undergo a rigorous external review process.

 

Publication fees 

Our open-access publication model requires authors to pay a book publication cost upon acceptance of the manuscript post-external peer review, as there will be minimal income from book sales after publication. Ideally, the cost of publication should form part of the initial research budget. Higher education institutions and colleges may have central research offices to apply for financial support of book publication costs (BPCs) to publish in open access publication costs in view of the return-on-investment Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) research subsidy benefits. Our production cost depends on the publication length, as most costs are directly related to the number of words and PDF pages. Suppose a manuscript is not accepted for publication by AOSIS after peer review. In that case, there will be no cost involved for the author(s), and they will be free to submit the manuscript to any other publisher for first publication.

 

Authors will receive tantiemen on any print and e-book sales only in the case of non-open access books.

 

New and improved publishing options 

AOSIS now offers authors a wider selection of publishing options to choose from. While we keep an eye on the market and trends, we focus on our quality and well-established reputation.

All our publishing services align with the Republic of South Africa's (DHET) requirements in qualification to apply for a research subsidy per Research Outputs Policy (2015) annum for scholarly books.

 

No. Description User license Open access period Note
1.

Delayed open access, with all rights reserved

 

Only per arrangement with the Managing Editor.

 All rights reserved After a 24-month embargo, unless a mutually agreed upon co-publication agreement requires a longer embargo period
  • A special cost estimate will be prepared
  • Minimal royalty income
  • Unlatching to open access is possible in selected works (additional fees apply)

AOSIS partners with Knowledge Unlatched. For more information, visit their website.
2. Immediate Open Access, with Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Immediate open access
  • Immediate open access
  • Liberal user license
  • Cost-effective
  • Optimal citation probability
  • Author(s)/editor(s) retain their copyright
3. Immediate Open Access with Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 License CC BY 4.0 Immediate open access
  • Immediate open access
  • Most liberal user license
  • Cost effective
  • Optimal citation probability
  • Allows derivative works
  • Allows commercial application

 

Funding body agreements 

AOSIS complies with the requirements of funding bodies, such as the Wellcome Trust and the National Research Foundation (NRF), to help authors comply with their open-access terms. The National Research Foundation requires all research that the NRF funds must be available in open-access format within 12 months of publication; therefore, authors should allow 15 months for development and submit their manuscripts on time. Read more here.