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Davis Open Access Book Fund

Funding for Open Access Monographs

Through the Davis Open Access Book Fund, the library offers funding support for author fees to publish open access monographs. Funding is available for up to three monographs per year.

This initiative builds on the success of UC Davis’ participation in a five-year national pilot, TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem), which was designed to help cultivate a thriving ecosystem of high-quality, peer-reviewed, and freely accessible scholarly books. Through TOME, the UC Davis Library supported open access publication of more than a dozen scholarly monographs from 2018 to 2022, with several more in production.

The Davis Open Access Book Fund continues the library’s commitment to supporting open access monographs, under similar guidelines and eligibility requirements.

Eligibility Requirements

The fund is open to current UC Davis Academic Senate faculty and Academic Federation members. Eligible individuals are limited to one grant.

The fund will provide up to $15,000 for open access monographs that are:

  • Published by a press that participated in the TOME initiative (see the list of participating publishers);
  • Unpublished as of the application date;
  • Published in industry-standard, DRM-free digital formats (to include at least ePub and/or PDF with a text layer) at the time of first release;
  • Published with industry-standard metadata reflecting the text’s open access availability;
  • Fully indexed for searching on the web; and
  • Published under a Creative Commons license at the time of first release.

Application Procedures

Step 1: Apply

This introductory form will allow us to make a preliminary determination regarding your eligibility and reply with a request for further materials as required.

Apply for funding

Step 2: Provide supplementary material

After we review and approve your initial application, we will contact you by email to secure necessary supplementary material. In most cases, we will require two supplementary items: a copy of the book proposal and a copy of the signed publishing agreement.

Step 3: Sign open access amendment to the publishing agreement

Because the publishing agreement is between you and the publisher, both you and the publisher need to sign an amendment that defines the criteria for the open access version of your book. We will provide a form.

In order to receive funds for open access publishing of the monograph the publisher will:

  • Provide the final digital files for the monograph, as well as any individual multimedia files used in its composition, for deposit in the University of California repository eScholarship
  • Distribute digital files of the book (PDF and ePUB3 where possible) on one or more of the following platforms immediately upon publication:
    • JSTOR
    • OAPEN
    • MUSEOpen
    • HathiTrust Digital Library
  • Acknowledge the funding support through the UC Davis Library in the front matter of all editions of the book.

Step 4: Library provides payment

When your manuscript is accepted for publication, the library will submit payment directly to the publisher.

Step 5: Share your book widely

Once published, readers everywhere will be able to read and learn from your book, free of charge and without delay. Congratulations!

See what other UC Davis authors had to say about how open access publication expanded the reach of their works.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this related to the Open Access Policy for the University of California?

No, it is unrelated. The UC Open Access Policies apply only to scholarship published in scholarly journals.

What if I need support for publishing in an open access journal?

The University of California automatically provides funding support for open access publishing in many journals through UC systemwide agreements with publishers. Our local, UC Davis Library also maintains an Open Access Fund for supporting publications in fully open access journals that are not covered under a publisher agreement.

How does the Davis Open Access Book Fund relate to the former TOME Fund?

The TOME Fund was part of a five-year national pilot that UC Davis participated in from 2018 to 2022. The Davis Open Access Book Fund is its local successor initiative. Through this fund, the UC Davis Library hopes to support open access publication of up to three scholarly monographs by campus authors each year.

Why is this fund restricted to books published with university presses?

With limited resources available, the library is unable to support manuscripts submitted to commercial publishers at this time.

UC Davis Funded Open Access Books

Gaming the Metrics: Misconduct and Manipulation in Academic Research
Biagioli, Mario and Alexandra Lippman (eds.) MIT Press 2020.
 Gaming the Stage: Playable Media and the Rise of English Commercial Theater
Bloom, Gina. University of Michigan Press, 2018.
Toward a Living Architecture? Complexism and Biology in Generative Design
Cogdell, Cristina. University of Minnesota Press, 2018.
Where Truth Lies: Digital Culture and Documentary Media After 9/11
Fallon, Kris. University of California Press, 2019
Beside You In Time: Sense Methods and Queer Sociabilities in the American Nineteenth Century
Freeman, Elizabeth. Duke University Press, 2019.
Ethnography #9
Klima, Alan. Duke University Press, 2019.
Scriptures, Shrines, Scapegoats, and World Politics: Religious Sources of Conflict and Cooperation in the Modern Era
Maoz, Zeev and Errol A. Henderson. University of Michigan Press, 2020.
American Power and International Theory at the Council on Foreign Relations, 1953-54
McCourt, David (ed.). University of Michigan Press, 2020.
Respawn: Gamers, Hackers, and Technogenic Life
Milburn, Colin. Duke University Press, 2018.
Modernist Idealism: Ambivalent Legacies of German Philosophy in Italian Literature
Subialka, Michael J. University of Toronto Press, 2021.
Sawyer, Suzana: The Small Matter of Suing Chevron
Sawyer, Suzana. Duke University Press, 2022.
Creating the Intellectual: Chinese Communism and the Rise of a Classification
U, Eddy. University of California Press, 2019.
Book cover for "Chinese Marriages in Transition" by Xiaoling Shu and Jingjing Chen
Shu, Xiaoling and Jingjing Chen. Rutgers University Press, 2023
Paris in the Dark: Going to the Movies in the City of Light, 1930-1950
Smoodin, Eric. Duke University Press, 2020.