(17 Feb 2026) As librarians, we aim to strategically invest our collection funds to support open access publishing as much as possible. For journals, these models include read and publish agreements, diamond open access, and more recently, Subscribe to Open (S2O).
Read and publish models can often be unaffordable for libraries, especially if they include a large publishing fee on top of existing subscription costs. Diamond OA journals, while fee-free for libraries, lack incentives for financial support and can, as a result, struggle with sustainability. The S2O model offers another affordable, and sustainable, method for advancing open access in which libraries continue to pay their historical subscription costs without any additional publishing fees. If enough institutions continue their subscriptions, then an entire year’s content is made permanently open access, with the added benefit of free open access publishing for all authors, everywhere.
Three librarians explain the model’s appeal and explore the challenges it presents here.
