(28 Jul 2026) Anyone who has spent time in a room where open access business models are being discussed knows the confusion and chaos the topic can induce. Someone mentions a transformative agreement, only to be asked by a colleague whether it is read-and-publish or publish-and-read; a third person wonders aloud whether Subscribe to Open is really a transformative model or something else entirely; and a fourth notes that the journal they edit is funded in a completely different way. And, of course, a publisher may give a formal name to their offering of a general type, creating additional complexity that challenges our ability to make sense of the landscape.
Tasha Mellins-Cohen offered a seven-category framework in 2024, which has proven useful for the field. Today I [Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe] offer a three-category framework as an alternative, not so much in disagreement, but as a way of seeing how contours of the business model landscape have smoothed out after a period of experimentation and to aid in matching models to open access mandate requirements.
Read more here.
