Study on changes in publishing
Free access to scientific books brings clear advantages. This is shown by a study compiled between 2014 and 2017: working closely with publishers, libraries and researchers, the SNSF analysed the distribution of books, whether they were available for a fee (printed) or free of charge (digital). The final report published in April 2018 draws some very encouraging conclusions: visibility, outreach and use are increasing. And publishers did not sell fewer printed books if a digital version was also available.
These results have been integrated into the SNSF’s open access policy (see page 10), which covers the costs of digital books as well as digital book chapters.