Open Access FAQs

Scroll down to read our most frequently asked questions about Open Access across books, journals and conference proceedings.

This is a growing resource, so please get in touch with any additional questions.

Open Access Logo

General Open Access

How is the publication process different for paid-for and open access books?

It isn’t. All our OA books, regardless of funding model, follow the same rigorous peer review process, as well as along the same production and marketing processes.

Do you market Open Access publications?

Yes. Our Open Access Books and Journals receive the same rigour of marketing as our non-OA publications.

What are the different types of Open Access?

There are four different types of Open Access, depending on the needs of the author and the funders.

Green Open Access is when the pdf can be shared on the university repository, author’s website, funder’s website and research platforms such as Academia.org. At AUP, this is only ever the AAM (Author Accepted Manuscript) rather than the AUP layout file. AUP has no embargos (delay / waiting time) for Green Open Access. We are featured in both Sherpa Romeo Green Open Acces and JISCinitiatives.

Gold Open Access is when a text is published in Open Access. For books, the whole book must be published in Open Access. For journals, they can be hybrid, where some articles are open access and some are behind a paywall.

Diamond/Platinum Open Access is paid for by a ‘third party’, such as an institution, association or funder. For journals, this could be a ‘Subscribe to Open’ (S20) set up whereby journals keep their subscriptions database but the journal is freely accessible.

Bronze Open Access is content that can only be read in OA on the publisher’s website. This is because the publisher makes it freely available but there is no CC-BY license that allows further use. It is comparable to Free access, but the intention is that it is not temporary. AUP’s delayed open access journals could be labelled Bronze OA.

What type of Open Access does AUP support?

Our journals are published with all models of Open Access. For books (both edited collections and monographs) AUP mostly publish in Immediate Open Access, meaning they are either Gold or Diamond/Platinum models.

AUP also supports Green Open Access initiatives, encouraging authors to publish their author-accepted manuscript on institutional repositories, their personal website, Mendeley, ResearchGate or Academia.edu and similar outlets. AUP has no embargos for Green Open Access.

Do you have another question about publishing in Open Access with AUP?

If you cannot find the answer that you're looking for, then please get in touch with a member of our team!

  • m.elliott@aup.nl for AUP books
  • v.de.bueger@aup.nl for conference proceedings
  • a.vanhoek@aup.nl for AUP journals

Open Access Books

Where can my Open Access book, journal or article be accessed and downloaded?

All our Open Access titles are available worldwide at:

I am a published AUP author, where can I share my manuscript?

If you are publishing a paid e-book, then you may share the author's version of your book/chapter via our Green Open Access commitment.

You may share the author’s version, ie. the manuscript after peer-review and accepted for publication, for instance as Microsoft Word file, RTF or PDF, but not the AUP print proof or final PDF.

When you share this version, please credit the original record as the book listed on the AUP website. Please include the ISBN for the book to make it easy for readers to cite the article, book chapter or monograph. For journals, please credit the article’s version of record: this is the article in the original journal on www.aup-online.com. Please include the DOI (digital object identifier) for chapters and journal articles (which looks like this: dx.doi.org/10.5117/XXX.X.XXX) to make it easy for readers to cite the article.

Only if your contribution is published as Immediate Open Access, you are free to share the official version of the PDF.

Can I publish my book/article on my personal website and/or institutional repository?

This is possible through Green Open Access. We support and actively encourage authors to share an appropriately credited author's version of academic book chapters, monographs and journal articles on institutional repositories, their personal website, and on websites such as ResearchGate or Academia.edu. The author’s version is the manuscript after peer-review and accepted for publication, for instance as Microsoft Word file, RTF or PDF, but not the AUP print proof or final PDF.

Where can I publish supplementary material?

If you have supplementary material for your title or require a version to be online prior to official publication, you may ask AUP to upload this to our Figshare account.

How much does publishing an Open Access book cost?

AUP has some of the most reasonable fees in the industry. With the aim of making Open Access publishing available to as many researchers as possible, the fee to publish a monograph or edited collection with full peer review starts from €8950.

If you have questions about costs for your project, please get in touch with your commissioning editor.

How do I find funding for Open Access?

There are many ways to find funding to publish in Open Access, and we are happy to advise wherever we can. The most common sources of funding are:

  • Many researchers are funded by a grant which may have budget for publications
  • Some employing institution require OA publications and thus offer funds to make this possible
  • Many countries off resources about national open access funding, for example: openaccess.nl openaccess.de, openaccess.be, and openaccess.cz, etc.
  • If you're not sure where to start within your institution, approach your open access librarian and discuss your institution’s open access funding options
  • If you are already considering publishing with AUP, regardless of your OA status, get in touch with your commissioning editor about this. We suggest doing this as early in the book process as possible.

When do I need to secure Open Access funding?

Open access is usually discussed in the initial contract stage with the commissioning editor. However, the process for securing open access funding is different for every book. As a publisher, we can be flexible in the timings of payment, so long as it is finalised prior to the end of gatekeeping, when the book is marketed internationally.

How can I submit an Open Access book proposal?

If you would like to submit a proposal, please familiarise yourself with our publications to ensure it fits our publishing programme. AUP publish Academic Books, Textbooks, Journals, and Major Reference Works, in both English and Dutch.

Next, please carefully consult our author guides which contain detailed information about the process of submitting a proposal and your manuscript:

If you wish to submit a book series proposal or a new journal, contact Irene van Rossum (i.vanrossum@aup.nl) for more information or to discuss your idea.

What formats do you publish as Open Access?

All AUP open access books are published as PDFs. Starting in 2025, they will also be published as an EPUB digital format too. We also offer print editions for all Open Access titles.

Open Access Journals

Where can my Open Access journal be found?

You can find all our Open Access journals on aup-online.com

What are article processing charges at AUP?

Article processing charges, otherwise known as chapter processing charges, are a requirement for Gold and Hybrid Open Access publications. Our current article processing charge is €750 for articles in hybrid journals. Charges for Gold Open Access journals vary and are posted on the respective journal pages on aup-online.com.

How do I submit an Open Access article?

You should submit your article directly to the journal with which you would like to be published. You do not need to highlight that you wish the article to be open access until the article has been accepted for publication.

There is more information on our Open Access journals on our platform, aup-online.com

Open Access Conference Proceedings

Where will Conference Proceedings be published?

All our Conference Proceedings are published in Open Access on aup-online.com

How much does it cost to publish Open Access Conference Proceedings?

AUP's full Conference Proceeding service includes a one-time set-up fee of €895, along with a per-paper fee based on the number of accepted submissions.

For detailed fee information, please contact Vanessa de Bueger at v.de.bueger@aup.nl.