Opening the Future

About the model

Opening the Future brings together publishers and librarians to ensure that quality monographs are published open access affordably and sustainably, in a modified type of “subscribe to open model” (S2O) exclusively for books.

With OTF, collections can grow at vastly reduced rates and funding future OA books demonstrably costs a fraction of closed monographs.

Libraries commit to supporting OtF for 3 years by choosing a book package, and receive perpetual access to the titles included at the end. We at CEU Press in turn use the funding to publish frontlist OA titles without author-facing charges.

To continue our OA publication output, we need library support! Get in touch if your library would like participate. We have made the pricing as affordable as possible, with tiered pricing available for all sizes of institutions.

If you would like to support our authors, or would like a personal introduction to Opening the Future at CEU Press and the impact the model has had on us and researchers globally, contact us here!

• Library chooses one or more subject packages with backlist or midlist (closed) titles

• Library commits to supporting OtF for 3 years – this lets us plan our publication output in OA well in advance, and we can speak to authors about OA early on

• Library pays either annually or prepays the three years

• Access is granted on Project Muse, which turns into perpetual access after the 3 year support period

• We use the funds to make frontlist titles open access – once we have EUR 8500 in the pot, we allocate this funding to a forthcoming title

• Authors from the humanities and social sciences who may not have funding for OA, or don’t come from institutions or countries with monograph OA funds can publish without author-facing charges

• The model supports bibliodiversity, equity and inclusion goals and mission-driven publishing

• OtF works within existing ebook acquisition infrastructures. No need for a special OA fund to support

• The packages are a cost-effective way of building your collection with perpetual access

• Frontlist books will be available in open access, disseminating research in key areas openly and globally – making reliable and authoritative research and content available to everyone, which is critical in times of disinformation and uncertainty

Are you assessing OA book publishing initiatives?

Opening the Future helps you make informed decisions by ticking all the boxes

• Works with existing acquisition infrastructure
• Supports Diversity, Equity & Inclusion goals
• Builds your library collection with perpetual access
• Benefits authors and institutions without dedicated OA funds
• Authors and institutions don't have to pay expensive BPCs
• Complies with funder mandates for monograph publishing
• Supports small independent university and mission-driven presses
• Sources and disseminates research openly and globally

Opening the Future_overview.pdf

Criteria for titles to be published open access via Opening the Future funding

Criteria for titles to be published open access via Opening the Future funding, chosen from all submissions by our team of highly experienced commissioning editors.

• monographs or edited volumes
• High impact research, contributing new aspects, and moving forward the field of research- Humanities and Social Sciences
• Wide geographic spread of subjects within the list
• Interest to a wide interdisciplinary audience
• no access to other open access funding
• allocated at time of contract approval or submission of manuscript

All Subscription Packages

Past Meets Present
History Package
Political Science Package
Editors' Choice Package
Library Selection
East Meets West

OA Supporter Membership - CEUP

Some institutions may not wish to sign up to a book package, or may not be able to. However they might still want to support, and help to fund, the frontlist of Open Access monographs that CEU Press publishes. For these institutions we have created an ‘OA Supporter Membership’.

Opening the Future: Pricing 2026-2028

OtF: Pricing 2026-2028

Supporters

See the list of supporters

How to sign up

If you would like to know more about Opening the Future, and how it can work for your library, please get in touch.

We can also help you sign up as a supporter for this model.

• Kat Baier (Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa) k.baier@ceupress.eu
• Linda McGrath (Americas and Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg) l.mcgrath@ceupress.eu
• Yulia Laktionova (Eastern and Central Europe, Balkans) y.laktionova@aup.nl

US and UK customers:

If you want to sign up immediately, please fill in this form on the Lyrasis site and they will assist you with invoicing and access

All other countries

Please use the contact details above to sign up.