JSTOR and University Press Partners Announce Path to Open Books Pilot

Overview

Open Access (OA) publishing faces many challenges, including misgivings about quality and difficulties with funding and distribution. But we believe that the benefits of sharing knowledge with researchers everywhere, including in low-income nations, far exceed the obstacles. This is why, in line with our mission to expand access to knowledge and education for everyone, we are collaborating with university presses on Path to Open, a new pilot program that supports libraries’ efforts to increase cultural diversity and invest in sustainable OA solutions while reducing financial risk for academic publishers to invest in authors and their scholarship.

Path to Open was developed in partnership with the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), University of Michigan Press, and The University of North Carolina Press to bring about equitable access and impact for the entire scholarly community. This funding model will provide libraries with affordable access to diverse, high-quality frontlist titles; support small and medium university presses in open access publishing; help authors reach a global audience; and advance equity of access to underserved researchers around the world.

View current titles and preview what’s coming. The collection includes open access titles featuring peer-reviewed monographs in disciplines across the humanities and social sciences, with an emphasis on works that bring forward diverse perspectives and ideas.

How it works

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Now that 30+ university presses are participating, we are:

Launching Path to Open as a multi-year pilot. Fees for unlimited exclusive access to the full set of titles are tiered according to the participating institution’s JSTOR classification
Releasing the first 100 titles in fall 2023, with 300 new titles added each year starting in 2024
Making the books open access three years after publication, benefitting readers worldwide

Learn more about joining the Path to Open

Participating university presses

Join the growing list of university presses on a sustainable path to open access, including the University of Michigan Press, The University of North Carolina Press, The Ohio State University Press, SUNY Press, Vanderbilt University Press, Liverpool University Press, Manchester University Press, and many more from around the world.

Join us

Exploring a Sustainable Model in Publishing New Open Access Books

Hear from members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the university press community, and JSTOR about the need for sustainable open access solutions for university press books, the importance of community-wide support, and the Path to Open approach. You will also learn how you can join us on the Path to Open in this Library Journal webinar.

Watch now

Participating libraries

Join the growing list of participating libraries, including fifteen libraries from the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA): Indiana University, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the University of Chicago.

Join us