Diversifying readership through open access

A usage analysis for OA books

In 2019, Springer Nature made usage data relating to 3,934 books, including 281 OA books, available to COARD. This white paper presents the analysis of that data, exploring what effect, if any, publishing OA has on the geographic usage of books. In particular, it examines whether OA facilitates the take-up of books by countries that are traditionally underrepresented in the production and use of scholarly content. It also provides analysis on the potential benefits from OA publication, looking at usage and related indicators for a sample of books, stratified by both book type and discipline.

Project partner: Springer Nature