The Open Book Environment (OBE) Dashboard: An Author Resource and a Living Inventory for the Scholarly Community

The demand for open academic book publishing is growing as funders and researchers recognise its importance in the global research ecosystem. Major UK research funders like the Wellcome Trust and UK Research and Innovation(UKRI) now mandate open access for long-form outputs, with similar movements in the US following the 2022 Nelson Memo potentially on the horizon. Despite progress, open book publishing lags behind open article publishing, facing challenges like varying publication routes, disciplinary differences, and high costs for Book Processing Charges (BPCs). The Open Book Environment (OBE) Dashboard aims to reduce ambiguity by providing data to support transparency and informed decision-making in academic open book publishing