‘Double Dipping’ in Open Access Book Publishing: Lessons Learned

Double dipping—where publishers receive payment twice for the same content—is a phenomenon widely discussed in the context of hybrid journal publishing but remains underexplored in open access (OA) monograph publishing. In the ebook marketplace, double dipping may occur inadvertently when publishers include OA titles in their complete title lists, without third-party distributors/providers realizing these titles are also freely available on the publishers’ websites. This case study investigates double dipping practices in the OA ebook marketplace, focusing on instances where publishers charge authors a book processing charge (BPC) to make titles open accessible while simultaneously selling the same ebooks through vendor platforms. Drawing on the literature review, acquisitions workflow analysis at one institution, and conversations with vendors, aggregators, and publishers, the study identifies some systemic issues including metadata limitations, lack of transparency in pricing, and inconsistent application of Creative Commons licenses. The authors share the results from their investigation into the not so well known double dipping practices occurring in the open access ebook publishing marketplace. These publisher practices have significant implications for library budgets, acquisition workflows, licensing terms, metadata standards, library-vendor relations, and author rights. The paper highlights best practices adopted by some academic publishers and offers recommendations for academic libraries to mitigate inadvertent purchases of OA titles. Findings suggest that while progress is being made to flag OA titles, gaps remain in metadata standards, and publisher—vendor coordination. The study calls for greater transparency in business models, improved metadata, and author education on publication agreements to ensure sustainable and equitable OA monograph publishing pricing. All prices mentioned in the article are in USD unless stated otherwise.