Category Archives: oa.subscribe_to_open

BioOne announces Subscribe to Open Pilot | EurekAlert!

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“BioOne, the leading nonprofit aggregator in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences, today announces a bold plan to offer up to 80 society titles as part of a Subscribe to Open (S2O) pilot beginning in January 2026.

This decision, unanimously endorsed by the BioOne Board of Directors, follows 18 months of careful feasibility analysis and extensive interviews with BioOne’s community of society and library partners in search of an equitable and sustainable path to open.

BioOne will work with its publishing community throughout 2024 to encourage participation in the pilot, enabling a rollout to the library market in 2025 for a 2026 volume year launch. The pilot offering will focus on those titles that are exclusively available to researchers via the aggregation BioOne Complete, representing societies, museums, research organizations, and independent presses across 15 countries. BioOne Complete will remain a mixed-model collection of subscribed, S2O, and gold OA titles.”

Guest Post: Why De Gruyter Decided to Use Subscribe to Open as the Main Model to Transform Our Journal Portfolio – OASPA

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“De Gruyter was founded to support scholars, promote knowledge, and spread quality research to the widest possible audience. As a publishing model, open access hinges on the idea that the scientific and intellectual heritage of humankind should be open to all—without restrictions tied to wealth, status, or place of birth. There is thus much overlap between the vision which animates the open access movement and De Gruyter’s own founding mission. For more than fifteen years, this affinity has led De Gruyter to be an early and active supporter of open access publishing. 

In keeping with our longstanding commitment to open access, 2023 saw De Gruyter adopt Subscribe to Open (S2O) as its main open access model. S2O is an innovative publishing model which provides for the sustainable transformation of gated journals to open access. Over the next five years, De Gruyter plans to transfer 85% of its 320 subscription journals to open access via S2O.

We are hugely excited about S2O. Not only in terms of its impact on our own portfolio—on average, the 9 journals we have transformed so far using S2O have seen an increase in usage of 700%, with readership from 2.8 times the number of countries compared with previously—but for what its wider adoption could do for both open access and the wider research community….”

Biochemical Society launches innovative Subscribe to Open model for its journals

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“The Biochemical Society (and its trading arm, Portland Press Ltd) is delighted to announce the launch of Subscribe to Open (S2O) for five of its world-leading research and review journals. This move marks another significant step in the Society’s commitment to making research accessible while maintaining the highest standards of quality….”

Edinburgh University Press launches Subscribe to Open pilot for 2024 – News

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“Edinburgh University Press (EUP) is launching a Subscribe to Open pilot in 2024 for two Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies journals – Afghanistan and the Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies – signifying our commitment to a sustainable and equitable Open Access (OA) transformation.

Subscribe to Open (S2O) is a collaborative OA model that relies on subscriptions to make content Open Access without the need for article processing charges. Under the S2O model, subscribers are offered continued access to their publication through the usual renewal process. If enough choose to renew, the publication is flipped to OA for that year’s volume….”

Project MUSE Accelerates Move to Open Access with Publisher S2O Commitments

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“Leading humanities and social sciences platform Project MUSE announces that many of our university press and related scholarly publisher partners have already committed to participate in the launch of our Subscribe to Open (S2O) program for journals in 2025. Fifty journals from more than 20 publishers are confirmed for participation to date, with more expected to join before the end of the year.

S2O is an equitable and sustainable model that enables journals to open access to their current content without Article Processing Charges (APCs). MUSE’s S2O program is built around our familiar and trusted Journal Collections, making the transition from conventional subscriptions to support for open access seamless for libraries, while providing revenue stability for nonprofit publishers….”

(1) Introducing DG2O: De Gruyter’s Subscribe to Open program – YouTube

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Academic publishing is facing a fundamental challenge – how do we find a fair, inclusive and sustainable way to open scholarship for all? We’re embarking on a new journey with Subscribe to Open (S2O), a tried and tested model that will help us flip 90% of our journals to open access over the next five years. We’re beyond proud to be the first major scholarly publisher to make S2O our highway to open access transformation. ? Join us in our mission to make academic content more accessible and equitable for all. Read about the DG2O journey here: https://www.degruyter.com/publishing/… S2O Community of Practice: https://subscribetoopencommunity.org/

October OpenCon Library Community Call

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“Subscribe to Open (S2O) is an increasingly popular approach for transitioning journals from subscription to open access—without article processing charges (APCs). Under the model, a publisher commits to opening a journal’s current content contingent on the journal’s annual revenue target being met. To better scale S2O, it is possible to link S2O offers in ways that benefit both subscribing institutions (and their authors) as well as publishers. On October 10th at 12pm ET / 9am PT, the next OpenCon Library Community Call will feature Raym Crow, who developed S2O, to discuss how the model can scale to support the transition of more journals to open access.”

 

Advocates for Open Access!

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“Vital Partnerships between libraries and publishers in an Open Access landscape: new initiatives, new business models and a glimpse into the future.

After the success of the first two De Gruyter 2023 quarterly webinars, we are proud to announce that Webinar 3 will take place on 28th September, beginning at 2 pm UK time. By popular demand, it will follow on from Webinar 1, to explore further aspects of Open Access. Webinar 3 will focus on the recent American OSTP “Nelson memo”; emerging OA business models, focusing especially on Subscribe-to-Open and why it has become one of the most popular Open Access models; consider where Open Access now stands on the global stage, the long-term financial sustainability of OA models; and how best to reduce inequities in scholarly publishing, particularly for authors in resource-limited contexts. Join us to discuss these and other issues arising in adapting to the changing publishing landscape of Open Access. This is the third in the De Gruyter webinar series 2023: Challenging the Status Quo: Taking Libraries into the Future….”

EU council ‘no pay’ publishing model is realistic – Olivier Pourret

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“According to Katharine Sanderson, “publishing-industry representatives warn” that May’s EU Council call for a “no pay” academic publishing model is “unrealistic and lack[ing] detail”. However, the proposal is already being implemented via several approaches:…

Many of these are already supported directly by institutions, governments, or private funders, and they are here to stay. 

 

It is up to us, researchers and policy makers, to make sure we support “no pay” solutions where they exist. Scientific knowledge is a public good, and it should be treated as such.”

News & Views: What questions should your organization ask during times of change? – Delta Think

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“The world of scholarly publishing continues to evolve.

Generative AI is currently trending, but new technology is nothing new. Remember the Information Superhighway? Web 2.0? The iPad revolutionizing the way we consumed content? The rise of XML?
Last summer’s OSTP memo made headlines. A zero embargo on open content is a significant and potentially disruptive change. But new policies have continued to shift: Plan S, the NIH deposit mandate, China’s publishing evolution, the Wellcome Trust’s early OA policies, to name a few.
Open Access was once an unproven model that many considered unlikely to be financially viable. Born-OA publishers now account for one fifth of content produced and have been growing an order of magnitude faster than the underlying market.
The APC-based OA business model is now itself being disrupted. Big OA publishers’ growth is slowing. Transformative Agreements and their like might move OA closer to the Big Deal. New Subscribe to Open launches are increasing even as calls for more equity are making publishers rethink their APC models entirely.
Operations change too. Publishers that once outsourced and divested their production suppliers have been acquiring publishing platforms and services companies as part of their competitive strategy….

Any change has the potential to disrupt the status quo. Another key set of questions therefore falls under the “what might break” category. If a particular policy was enacted or adopted, how might the revenue or cost change? Developing our example of looking at a policy promoting “open” publishing, you might ask:

What subscriptions might be at most or least risk?
Are there multiplier effects? For example, bundles or collections of journals that might be much less attractive if just a few key journals were removed or made open.
Are we clear about the value of subscriptions and of OA activity… by journal/collection/subject?
Are there other sources of value, such as advertising or licensing? How much are they dependent on paywalls or publishing fees?
At what threshold might we need to flip a journal from hybrid OA to fully OA?
At what threshold does a subscription journal become unviable?
How do we measure thresholds: Pricing? Volumes of output? Usage?…”

Open access strategy: De Gruyter expands Subscribe to Open program to accelerate OA transformation | De Gruyter

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“Academic publisher De Gruyter is implementing the Subscribe to Open (S2O) model at scale to transform its journal portfolio to Open Access over the next 5 years. De Gruyter will gradually transfer about 85% of its currently 320 subscription journals to free online access via Subscribe to Open in close collaboration with journal editors and societies. De Gruyter is the first major academic publisher to use Subscribe to Open as its central open access transformation model.

Currently, De Gruyter offers 16 journals as open access via Subscribe to Open. Another five will follow in 2024, and the publisher plans to transfer around 40 journals to open access by 2025. By 2028 around 270 De Gruyter journals are planned to be available as open access titles via Subscribe to Open. In the pilot phase, De Gruyter has had a positive experience with Subscribe to Open as a sustainable transformation model, especially for humanities journals. The participation of subscribing institutions has been high, and responses have been positive.

Compared to other models, Subscribe to Open offers advantages for all stakeholders in the publication system. Authors can publish their articles in established journals on an open access basis at no additional cost. Libraries retain guaranteed access to journals through their subscription, while enabling the open access transformation of those journals without additional administrative effort or cost. Booksellers continue to organize journal purchases for their customers in the usual way.

In addition, unlike the APC model, which is widely established in the sciences, Subscribe to Open is suited to transforming all journal types in all disciplines, including in the humanities and social sciences (HSS). For De Gruyter’s journal portfolio, which is strongly focused on the humanities, Subscribe to Open is therefore a logical choice to function as the main way to open journals….”

How to make academic book reviews sustainable in a pay to publish environment | Impact of Social Sciences

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“Book reviews, let alone academic book reviews, have received many premature notices of their demise. However, as Christina Lembrecht and Vassiliki Gortsas, discuss alongside a crisis in authorship, reviews also run the risk of being excluded from funding for open access publication….

In fact, four in every five (79%) of our authors said that book reviews – especially in journals – are the main way they keep up to speed with emerging scholarship in their field. Not only do book reviews serve as an important source of information, receiving them is still highly prized. The survey also found that 74% of our humanities authors judge the success of their book on the basis of how widely it gets reviewed….

As humanities scholars receive far less funding – or none at all for some types of content – the APC model could pose a major threat for the sustainability of book reviews as well as many other types of academic material….”

AIP Publishing Launches Subscribe to Open Pilot in Two Flagship Journals – AIP Publishing LLC

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“AIP Publishing is excited to announce the launch of a pilot program for the Subscribe to Open (S2O) model in two of its most esteemed journals, Physics of Plasmas and Journal of Applied Physics.

The pilot, which reflects AIP Publishing’s commitment to equity, accessibility, and open science, is set to launch in 2024.

The S2O model helps publications and publishers bridge the transition into open access (OA). It works like this: Current subscribers are offered continued access to their publications through the normal subscription process. If enough subscribers renew, that year’s content for those publications is then flipped over to OA. Importantly, all of this is done without service disruption, additional costs, or extra effort on the part of the community. Subscribers need only to renew their subscriptions normally, and the articles are made OA at no direct cost to authors….”

EDP Sciences – Subscribe to Open 2023 Transparency Report for maths journals provides expanded metrics and analysis, marking the third year of commitment to transparency

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“We are delighted to release the Subscribe to Open (S2O) 2023 Transparency Report for our mathematics journals* co-published by EDP Sciences and the Société de Mathématiques Industrielles et Appliquées (SMAI). Following the announcement that the journals will continue to publish in open access in 2023, this report marks our third consecutive year of providing this comprehensive overview, reinforcing our commitment to transparency. By presenting a detailed analysis of metrics such as subscription prices, subscription renewals, costs, and usage data, it offers a comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of the S2O initiative for these titles….”