If you would like to help fund equitable OA publishing while simultaneously enhancing your own library collection please consider investing in Opening the Future at Boydell & Brewer. See the Sign up page for details of which books you could own in perpetuity when joining as a subscriber member.
Every euro, pound or dollar you invest goes towards helping us flip our frontlist to OA, while your own collection of closed backlist books also grows.
Our goal is to make high-quality scholarly research freely accessible to the global academic community. Titles selected for Open Access (OA) under Opening the Future are chosen based on clear principles that reflect both scholarly value and community priorities.
Selection Principles
- 1. Equity and Accessibility
We prioritize works that amplify underrepresented voices, explore marginalized communities, or address regions and topics often overlooked in mainstream academic publishing.- 2. Academic and Disciplinary Impact
Books that align with current research priorities—such as sustainability, social justice, and interdisciplinary studies—are given preference, ensuring relevance for teaching and research across multiple disciplines.- 3. Author and Institutional Diversity
We aim to focus on those authors with limited access to OA funding, whether they be early-career/first time authors or established scholars.Process
- 1. We assess which titles would most benefit from being openly accessible as per the above principles, in a given timeline (when funding has reached a threshold that a title can be considered).
- 2. We consult with authors to confirm their interest in OA, exclude titles with existing OA funding support, and check there are no copyright obstacles to Open Access provision.
- 3. All OA titles funded through Opening the Future undergo the same rigorous editorial and peer review processes as our traditionally published books.
Library Impact
Your support directly enables these high-impact titles to become freely available worldwide, extending their reach far beyond traditional purchase and subscription models and advancing equitable access to scholarship.