JCU Library has a deep commitment to the principles of Open Education and the deliberate dismantling of financial, legal, and inclusion barriers that impede access to high-quality learning resources. In 2021, JCU Library launched the highly successful ]CU Open eBooks initiative.
JCU Library partners with academic authors to create openly available educational resources through the JCU Open eBooks Collection. Through this program, openly available eBooks are published in a variety of subject disciplines taught at JCU including nursing, health science, project management, history, French language, education and more.
Pressbooks is the publishing platform that JCU uses for open eBook publishing.
A wide range of practical resources are available to help you get the most out of Pressbooks. Check out the list below and, if you need assistance or have any questions, please contact us.
Publishing an open textbook with a commercial publisher generally involves expensive book processing charges (BPCs) which the author is responsible for covering.
See the table below for details on how these options compare.
| Commercial publishing | JCU Open eBooks | |
| Cost to author | Expensive book processing charges (BPS) | Free of charge to authors |
| Copyright | Retained by publisher | Retained by authors |
| Flexibility of text |
Text cannot be altered or built upon:
|
Text can be updated, reused and remixed:
|
| Access | May not be available for the library to purchase. Is likely to have access, print and download limits. | Available for free to anyone, anywhere in the world. Can be shared, downloaded, and printed in entirety. |
| Cost to student | Students required to purchase a copy. | Free for students to use. |
| Open access options | Open access options only available for a fee. | Open access built into the program, free of charge to authors. |
"OER Publishing Pilot" by University of South Australia used under CC BY SA 4.0 license.
We acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and acknowledge Traditional Owners of the lands where our staff and students, live, learn and work.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License, unless otherwise noted. Content from this Guide should be attributed to James Cook University Library. This does not apply to images, third party material (seek permission from the original owner) or any logos or insignia belonging to JCU or other bodies, which remain All Rights Reserved.
