Newest Open Access publishing opportunities
Researchers want to know, “Where can I publish my research article Open Access and free-of-charge?”
The answer to this question in Woods Hole grows in the number of journal titles offering OA each year, although the list of titles is by no means a comprehensive list. The MBLWHOI Library seeks out Open Access agreements with publishers which are cost-neutral, meaning a one-for-one swap of subscription costs to pay for open access charges and free reading of articles without incurring the unchecked ever-rising costs which some commercial publishers ask libraries and researcher-authors to pay.
The Royal Society of London, a publisher with historically important journal titles such as the 1665 first published Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, has announced that as of January 2026, 8 of its 10 titles will become open access using the S2O (subscribe to open) model. Thus, the Royal Society will join other S2O OA publishers such as Annual Reviews, the American Society for Microbiology, BioOne, and the American Physiological Society in converting library subscription costs to cover affiliated scientists (MBL, WHOI, SEA, USGS, and WCRC) Open Access publishing charges. From the Royal Society press release: “Under the current hybrid model authors can choose to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs) to make their article open access and available to read for free. With Subscribe to Open, these charges would disappear.”
Beginning in January ’26, the aggregator of scientific society publishers, BioOne, will offer 71 of its titles as S2O Subscribe to Open titles, just like those mentioned above. This news is very positive for the community of scientific societies, many of which would not publish their journals without the existence of the nonprofit journals platform BioOne. We are in the age of transitioning to Open Access while still in the age of spiraling publishing costs. In these times, when Woods Hole researchers are able publish their work freely without cost or digging into valuable grant funding, it is great news for our scientific community! The MBLWHOI Library is interested in broadening the Open Access conversation in our community. Feel free to drop by our MBL Lillie building or WHOI McClean building offices or send us a note at library@mbl.edu if you’d like to chat or have questions about your open access experiences.