There has long been a debate about openness in scholarship, and even the term itself continues to be debated. Openness is a complex and multidimensional concept, and its nature in scholarship continually evolves. One of the hindrances to the transition to greater openness in academia is this lack of clear understanding about how it fits into the practice of scholarly communication.

To ensure that librarians as knowledge managers can better educate scholars about the benefits and challenges of open scholarship, Victoria Martin's The Complete Guide to Open Scholarship brings clarity to the concept of openness, tests assumptions concerning it, and strikes the right balance between breaking down complex ideas into simpler ones and honoring the reader's intelligence and previous knowledge of the subject. Readers will learn the history of openness in scholarship as well as several ways in which openness can be perceived. Drawing on specific examples, Martin discusses the most prominent scholarly models based on openness, barriers to openness, concerns about openness in scholarship, and the future of open scholarship.