As we celebrate Open Access Week 2024, the theme of "Community over Commercialization" resonates deeply within the evolving landscape of academic publishing. Librarians, as key players in the academic ecosystem, have a crucial role to play in driving this shift towards a more open and equitable future. 

For years, traditional publishers have dominated the academic landscape with subscription-based models that restrict access to valuable research. Although transformative agreements have made some progress in opening access to this research, they often come with hefty subscription fees that undermine the promise of true openness.  

At Frontiers, we believe that the academic community—researchers, institutions, and the public—should be at the heart of publishing. Our approach to publishing emphasizes transparency and collaboration, challenging commercialized models that restrict access to knowledge. As a gold open access publisher, we offer an alternative to the entrenched transformative agreements by providing institutional models that benefit both researchers and institutions. 

Community-centric publishing 

Traditional subscription-based models, often locked into transformative agreements, still tie institutions to expensive subscription fees while only incrementally opening access. While these transformative agreements are a step forward, they fall short of fully freeing research from paywalls. The result? Institutions and researchers remain tethered to costly publishing arrangements, and the promise of open access is diluted by commercial interests. Nevertheless, the positive impact of open access on research is clear, empowering both institutions and researchers. 

This is where gold open access publishers like Frontiers step in, offering an alternative fully open and transparent model. Our flat-fee structure for institutional partnerships allows institutions to pay an upfront fee that covers the publication costs for all their researchers—regardless of how many papers they publish with us. This moves away from the per-article processing charges (APCs) that can unpredictably accumulate costs. It’s a straightforward, predictable, and truly open access approach that prioritizes community-driven scholarship over commercialization, creating a fair and equitable system for all involved. 

Why institutional partnerships matter 

Institutional partnerships, facilitated by librarians, play a vital role in shaping the future of academic communication. By choosing partners that genuinely support open access, universities, and research institutions can break away from the constraints of commercialized models. Open access agreements that fully untether institutions from subscriptions allow them to lead the way in democratizing knowledge, ensuring that research is freely available to the global community. 

At Frontiers, we work closely with librarians to design agreements that are not only transparent but also consider each institution's unique needs. Our flat-fee model specifically allows them to plan their budgets effectively while offering their researchers a seamless route to publish openly. This model fosters a more sustainable relationship between publishers and institutions, as it eliminates the opaque pricing structures that dominate traditional agreements and creates a partnership based on mutual trust and shared goals. 

Supporting researchers with open access

The benefits of fully open access publishing are profound for researchers. Due to high publishing costs, researchers often struggle to make their work accessible to the broader community. Our flat-fee model removes these barriers by ensuring institutional support extends to all researchers within a partnership, allowing them to publish without worrying about prohibitive costs or hidden fees. 

We believe academic publishing should be driven by the needs of the community it serves—researchers, institutions, and the public. When institutions partner with us, they are not just entering into a transactional agreement. They are joining a movement that prioritizes the unrestricted dissemination of knowledge, aligns with global open access goals, and serves the academic community holistically. By moving away from models that still cling to subscription-based revenue streams, we are putting the needs of researchers and the public first—making research truly accessible to everyone, everywhere. 

Leading the change 

In a time when global challenges require collaborative, open solutions, institutions have a critical role in fostering a more open academic publishing ecosystem. By choosing to partner with Frontiers and facilitated by their librarians, institutions can break free from the constraints of traditional commercial models and become leaders in the movement for open access. Together, we can remove paywalls, eliminate hidden costs, and create a future where academic knowledge is open to all. 

This week let’s celebrate the progress we’ve made, but more importantly, let’s commit to pushing further. Let’s ensure that open access is not just a tagline but a reality for all researchers and institutions.  

By working together, we can build an academic publishing landscape that is more transparent, equitable, and—above all—community-driven. 

About Frontiers

Frontiers is a leading research publisher. Our role is to provide the world’s scientists with a rigorous and efficient publishing experience. Powered by custom-built technology, artificial intelligence, and a collaborative peer review, our community journals give experts in more than 1,800 academic fields an open access platform to publish high quality, high impact research.

If you want to learn more about our institutional agreements, contact us at institutions@frontiersin.org or visit our website.