Data on the use of open access e-monographs is not an open book – Curtin U staffers are on to it

The US based Andrew Mellon Foundation is long-interested in establishing readership stats on OA academic books, rather than relying on citations, which works better for journal articles.

This is important to establish open access as a platform for humanities research, which uses books rather than articles and as such need different measures.

Cameron Neylon and Lucy Montgomery from Curtin U are part of a Mellon project on consumption of OA texts.

The announcement occurred as ANU Press (mainly on-line, all open-access) announced 285 000 more downloads of its titles in 2019 over ’18.  Some 27 per cent of were in Australia, 20 per cent China, 11 per cent US and 27 per cent the rest of the world.