Suggest a Textbook for the Collection

BCcampus Open Education offers a growing collection of open resources designed for educators. If you have identified an open textbook that meets our criteria, we’d like to hear about it.

The process

  1. Before you fill out the form, ensure the open textbook you’d like to submit meets the required collection criteria.
  2. If your resource meets all of the required criteria, fill out and submit the suggestion form.
  3. The suggestion form will be submitted to BCcampus. We will review the resource.
    • Note that we may require textbooks that are self-published and have not been peer reviewed to be evaluated by a subject matter expert (SME) using the SME Evaluation Rubric [Word file].
  4. We will email you to let you know our decision in four to eight weeks.
    1. If the textbook is rejected, we will add it to the OER by Discipline Directory.
    2. If the textbook is accepted, we will gather all of the files we need and post it to the collection in the next three weeks.

Open Textbook Criteria

To help us continue to deliver quality open textbooks, please use the following to determine if your recommendation is appropriate for the collection.

Required Criteria

  • Textbook elements: The resource must include elements that make it a textbook (as opposed to an essay collection or monograph). This includes things like learning objectives and activities. 
  • An open licence: The textbook must be released with an open licence (Creative Commons) that allows for editing or be in the public domain. Open resources that do not allow for editing (for example NoDerivatives) are considered on a case-by-case basis. 
  • Accessible: The textbook must meet the BCcampus OER Accessibility Criteria [PDF].
  • Canadian relevance: The textbook must be able to be used in a Canadian classroom as is. 
  • An editable file: The textbook must include at least one editable file to allow for future adaptation (i.e., Pressbooks XML, Word, LaTeX source files). 
  • A PDF file and cover: The textbook must be available as a PDF file and have a book cover so BCcampus can set up a print-on-demand option. 
  • High quality:
    • The textbook is copyright compliant, meaning all non-original content is under an open licence and has been attributed according to the licence requirements. This usually takes the form of an attribution statement.
    • The textbook follows a consistent structure and has been copy edited by someone who is not the author to remove errors and inconsistencies according to the following guidelines: How to Copy Edit. 

Preferred Criteria

While the following criteria are not required, we prioritize textbooks that: 

  • Respectfully incorporate Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies (for more information, see the Pulling Together series); 
  • Incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and open pedagogies; 
  • Consider equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout the resource;
  • Have undergone some sort of review process (this could include pre- or post-publication review by subject-matter experts or piloting the resource in a classroom and incorporating student feedback);
  • Have supplemental resources (i.e., an instructor guide, test bank, assignment descriptions, or presentation slides);
  • Include interactivity and multimedia; and
  • Are currently being used in a Canadian classroom.

Open Textbook Suggestion Form

    Your information




    Textbook Information




    Confirm your suggestion meets our required criteria

    1. Textbook elements: The resource includes elements that make it a textbook (as opposed to an essay collection or monograph). This includes things like learning objectives and activities.
    2. An open licence: The textbook is released under the following an open licence. (Note that resources under licences with NoDerivatives (ND) terms are are considered on a case-by-case basis).

      If the resource does have a NoDerivatives (ND) licence, describe why the NoDerivatives license is necessary for this textbook:
    3. Accessible: The textbook meets BCcampus’s minimum accessibility criteria.
    4. Canadian relevance: The textbook can be used in a Canadian classroom as is.
    5. An editable file: The textbook includes at least one editable file to allow for future adaptation (i.e., Pressbooks XML, Word, LaTeX source files).
    6. PDF file and cover: The textbook is available as a PDF file and has a book cover so BCcampus can set up a print-on-demand option.
    7. Copyright compliant: All content is under an open licence or in the public domain and attributed according to licence requirements.
    8. High quality: The textbook follows a consistent structure and has been copy edited to remove errors.

    Describe how your suggestion meets our preferred criteria

    While the following criteria are not required, they are things we look for when deciding whether or not to add a book. Please fill out all that apply to this resource:






    Is this textbook currently being used in a Canadian classroom?

    If the book is currently being used in a class, please fill out the following information:



    Submit Form

    By submitting this form, you give BCcampus permission to share this information with your identified institution.