This report details the diverse mix of revenue streams in OA Journal publishing in 2024 and beyond. It also examines the research integrity crisis confronting the sector, the decrease in the number of titles being published, and how publishers and policy makers are responding.

This report provides an overview and financial outlook for the OA journal publishing market, including the performance of leading competitors’ through 2024 and market projections through 2028. To produce this data, the analyst used the information from global OA journal sales, leading publishers, and revenue projections through 2028. To develop a financial outlook for open access journal publishing, the analyst consulted primary and secondary research, competitor interviews, industry expert consultations, and financial data analysis.

EDP Sciences and SMAI have released their 2024 transparency report, highlighting the fourth consecutive year of open access publication for mathematics journals under the Subscribe to Open model. The report highlights achievements such as sustained open access, moderate subscription price increases, stable article output, financial sustainability, and the impact of national agreements, partnerships, and additional funding.

EIFL’s landscape study explores open access (OA) journals in Africa that don’t charge fees (Diamond OA), based on survey data from 199 journals, 21 platforms, and 25 country reports. It examines funding, sustainability, institutional support, incentives, and collaboration among these journals. The study is part of the three-year ‘Collaboration for sustainable open access publishing in Africa’ project (Nov 2023 – Oct 2026), led by EIFL, AJOL (African Journals Online), and WACREN (the West and Central African Research and Education Network) with Wellcome’s support.

See the online version of the report.

En 2023, le DOAJ a été invité par Research4Life, en collaboration avec l’ASSAf, à lancer une série de webinaires en français pour chercheurs de pays à faible revenu, comme la Tanzanie, le Bhoutan et le Ghana. En 2024, des webinaires en français ont été ajoutés, touchant des pays francophones comme le Bénin et le Sénégal. Les formations ont couvert divers sujets, allant de la transparence dans l’édition scientifique aux pratiques prédatrices. Les retours des participants et la collaboration avec des bibliothécaires locaux montrent l’importance d’adapter le contenu aux besoins spécifiques et de renforcer les liens régionaux.

Springer Nature has announced that 44% of its published articles are now open access (OA), marking a significant milestone in the publisher’s ongoing efforts to enhance the accessibility and impact of scientific research. The 2023 OA report underscores the success of Springer Nature’s approach to open access, highlighting the increased usage, visibility, and citations of OA articles, alongside initiatives aimed at supporting equity in OA publishing.

The full report can be accessed here, alongside the previous report in 2023 and the fully OA report from 2022.

cOAlition S has released its latest report on the Transformative Journal (TJ) model, a key strategy developed to transition subscription-based publishers to full and immediate Open Access (OA). The 2023 data, sourced from participating publishers, sheds light on the progress and obstacles encountered in this endeavour.

The TJ programme mandates that journals annually increase their OA research content by at least 5% in absolute terms and 15% in relative terms, to fully transition to OA when 75% of their research content is published openly.

The OECD began granting greater access to its data with the launch of its data portal and platform integration in 2014, notably making publications freely available to read online. The introduction of the Creative Commons CCBY 4.0 licence now enables seamless access to OECD publications and data. The newly redesigned oecd.org website will further facilitate the use of this open-access information model, by offering improved search functions. This includes a catalogue of almost 30 000 items from the OECD archives, which users are now able to access, download, and share.

La Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (FECYT) y el consorcio del proyecto DIAMAS publican el Estándar de calidad para Acceso Abierto Diamante (Diamond OA Standard (DOAS), basado en el Estándar Extensible para la Edición Institucional (EQSIP). Este estándar guía la edición de revistas académicas sin cobrar tarifas a autores ni lectores. Más de 300 expertos participaron en su desarrollo, buscando una publicación sostenible y accesible. DOAS abarca siete componentes clave: financiación, propiedad legal, ciencia abierta, gestión editorial, eficiencia técnica, visibilidad, y equidad. Además, incluye una herramienta de autoevaluación (Self-assessment tool) para editores.

Japan is expanding its Open Access policy. Since 2013, Open Access has been regularly discussed at a policy level, especially in relation to innovation. But policies have been less restrictive and slower than in other countries, like the USA. However, by 2025, it will be required that articles resulting from nationally funded research in Japan must be made Open Access immediately on publication.

MDPI outlines the history of the Japanese government’s mandates and its current policies here.