Open Access

In 2021, we set a bold target: publish 50% of our primary research open access (OA) by the end of 2024. This goal was driven by the need to make research widely accessible, enabling global researchers to build on existing knowledge and tackle pressing challenges. I'm thrilled to report that we met this target, as highlighted in our recent Annual Report. But how did we do it, and what did we learn?

MDPI, the world’s largest fully open-access publisher, today announced the renewal of its national partnership agreement with Sweden’s Bibsam Consortium. Notably, 22 institutions will receive partner benefits under MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP), including substantial discounts on article processing charges (APCs) for affiliated authors.

Every article published in the 2025 volume of three Taylor & Francis journals will be made open access (OA), following a successful launch of the publisher’s Subscribe to Open (S2O) pilot. Taylor & Francis has confirmed that enough institutions have renewed or confirmed the renewal of their subscriptions for each journal to reach the required S2O threshold.

The Public Library of Science (PLOS) and the Society of China University Journals (CUJS) today announced a 3-year strategic partnership between the organizations to work together on topics and content related to open access, open science, scientific integrity and scientific evaluation.

Open Research Africa (ORA), the pioneering platform from F1000 and the Science for Africa Foundation, has announced a significant expansion of its author eligibility criteria. All articles with an author based in Africa can now be submitted, regardless of their funder. Previously, only work supported by an ORA partnering research funder could be published on the platform.

This month marks the beginning of the negotiations, led by Jisc on behalf of the higher education sector and in collaboration with key sector bodies including Universities UK (UUK), SCONUL and Research Libraries UK, to discuss how UK universities continue to access and publish open access in the journals from the five largest publishers of academic research.

De Gruyter Brill is expanding its Subscribe to Open program, DG2O, by immediately switching 37 additional journals to open access. In total, 58 journals from the De Gruyter portfolio will be published open access via DG2O in 2025, making approximately 2,300 research articles freely available to the global scholarly community.

On February 26th, 2025, the Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN), Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa), and Public Library of Science (PLOS) hosted a dynamic virtual webinar to officially launch their strategic partnership aimed at promoting and strengthening open science principles and practices across North Africa.

The University of Kansas (KU) and award-winning open science platform Frontiers are pleased to announce the renewal of their open-access publishing partnership for an additional year. Initially established in 2024, this agreement maintains its terms to provide KU researchers with seamless, cost-free access to publish in all Frontiers journals. 

Elsevier, a global leader in scientific information and analytics, and Washington State University (WSU) are pleased to announce a new Read and Publish (R&P) agreement for 2025. The five-year agreement marks a pioneering step in the Northwest American region, enabling WSU researchers to publish their work open access in Elsevier’s journals and ensuring their research is accessible to a global audience.

ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, and the Canadian Center of Science and Education (CCSE), an organisation delivering support and services to educators and researchers in Canada and around the world, have today announced a new Journal Home partnership that will grow the international readership and author community for CCSE’s journals.

On Open Data Day 2025, Frontiers is launching the FAIR² (FAIR Squared™) Data Management Pilot, a first-of-its-kind peer-reviewed service that helps researchers get credited and cited for their work while making data AI-ready, reusable, and impactful.