Luminos publishes first open access books

Luminos is an open access book publishing program run by The University of California Press. At the time of writing there are 6 open access books available, with more on the way. We mentioned the announcement of the program in a previous blogpost that focussed on the open access journal Collabra, which was launched by University of Californian Press at the same time back in March 2015.

Benner C. & Pastor M. 2015. Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn from America's Metro Areas. California: University of California Press. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.6

Titles so far include:

• Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn from America's Metro Areas
• By Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor
• http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.6
• Migrating into Financial Markets: How Remittances Became a Development Tool
• By  Matt Bakker
• http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.5
• Representing Mass Violence: Conflicting Responses to Human Rights Violations in Darfur
• By Joachim J. Savelsberg
• http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.4
• Writing Self, Writing Empire: Chandar Bhan Brahman and the Cultural World of the Indo-Persian State Secretary.
• By Rajeev Kinra
•  http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.3
• Place of Devotion: Siting and Experiencing Divinity in Bengal-Vaishnavism
• By Sukanya Sarbadhikary
• http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.2
• Art of Fugue: Bach Fugues for Keyboard, 1715–175
• By Joseph Kerman
• http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1

Luminos have also announced the first member libraries to be part of the scheme, see here for more information http://www.luminosoa.org/site/for_libraries/. Member libraries can support the scheme by paying between $1000-$20,000+. This money goes towards supporting further monographs, forming the 'library subsidy' shown in the diagram below. Membership to the scheme also entitles the member institutions to various benefits including discounts on publication fees, the opportunity to be represented on the Luminous Advisory Board, as well as a yearly 50% discount on up to 50 University of California Press books.

© Copyright 2015 by The Regents of the University of California.

The publication costs are covered by a variety of sources, as illustrated in the digram above.

'For each title published, UC Press makes a significant financial contribution, which is augmented by membership funds from Luminos Member Libraries. Each author is then asked to secure a title publication fee to cover the remaining costs. Any additional revenue from Luminos Member Libraries, as well as funds from optional purchase of print editions, help support a waiver fund for future Luminos authors. Together, this shared financial support helps ensure a sustainable monograph publishing ecosystem for authors, readers, institutions, libraries, and UC Press.' (Luminos press release, October 2015)