Project MUSE Accelerates Move to Open Access with Publisher S2O Commitments

By Project MUSE

Leading humanities and social sciences platform Project MUSE announces that many of our university press and related scholarly publisher partners have already committed to participate in the launch of our Subscribe to Open (S2O) program for journals in 2025. Fifty journals from more than 20 publishers are confirmed for participation to date, with more expected to join before the end of the year.

S2O is an equitable and sustainable model that enables journals to open access to their current content without Article Processing Charges (APCs). MUSE's S2O program is built around our familiar and trusted Journal Collections, making the transition from conventional subscriptions to support for open access seamless for libraries, while providing revenue stability for nonprofit publishers.

"We're delighted with the enthusiasm our participating publishers have shown towards Subscribe to Open," said Wendy Queen, Director of Project MUSE. "Supporting even one non-profit humanities journal in the transition to sustainable open access would be a success story, and we are in the fortunate position of providing the infrastructure for an equitable, scalable program which may open up access to a wealth of valuable interdisciplinary content across many titles and publishers."

The MUSE S2O Program makes open access to the current year's content from participating journals contingent on the continued support of MUSE subscribers. Each year, MUSE will set the minimum sustainability threshold required to maintain the platform and its participating publishers. By renewing their collection subscriptions, libraries ensure continued access to our deep backfile content and current scholarship. If the program's annual threshold is reached, the current year's content from journals participating in the S2O program becomes open to the world. If the threshold is not reached, that year's content remains gated.

Participation in the S2O program is open to any actively publishing, full-royalty journal in the MUSE Journal Collections, and a publisher may participate with as many or as few of their titles as they wish. To date, these publishers have committed at least one journal to participate in the program:

• Advertising Educational Foundation
• Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas
• Center of Latin American Studies, University of Kansas
• The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
• Early Theatre
• International Vladimir Nabokov Society and Davidson College
• Johns Hopkins University Press
• Liverpool University Press
• The Ohio State University Press
• Philosophy Documentation Center
• Purdue University Press
• The Southwest Center, University of Arizona
• UCLA, CMRS Center for Early Global Studies
• University of Illinois Press
• University of Minnesota Press
• University of Missouri
• University of Nebraska Press
• The University of North Carolina Press
• University of Pennsylvania Press
• University of Texas Press
• The University of Tulsa
• University of Wisconsin Press

The list of publishers and journal titles committed to S2O is growing dynamically and being updated regularly on our web site.

"We see Subscribe to Open as a cornerstone in our efforts to make scholarship more accessible," said John Sherer, Spangler Family Director, The University of North Carolina Press. "We're grateful to the participating libraries and our partners at Project MUSE for creating and supporting this innovative program."

Gan Qi, Director of The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, adds, "This initiative provides a valuable opportunity for an Asian university press like ours to participate in the OA journal landscape. S2O promotes equitable access to scholarly information and fosters a more inclusive academic community on a global scale."

With more than 700 current journals in the humanities and social sciences on its platform, from close to 200 non-profit publishers, Project MUSE is uniquely positioned to develop and deploy a Subscribe to Open business model at scale. The collective support of the S2O program by MUSE's community of thousands of libraries worldwide has the potential to open a wealth of vital scholarship, in disciplines frequently not well served by other open access (OA) models. Announcements regarding additional participating publishers and journals will be made at regular intervals prior to the launch of the program for the 2025 calendar year subscription term. See more about Subscribe to Open at Project MUSE