The UK Royal Society is set to convert eight of its journals to the “subscribe to open” (S2O) publishing model starting next year. The not-for-profit publisher, which produces ten titles including the world’s first peer-reviewed journals, made the announcement today. The S2O model allows the content of a journal to be freely accessible, provided that enough libraries commit to paying an annual subscription fee.
If insufficient subscriptions are secured, the journal will continue to charge publishing fees, known as article-processing charges (APCs). As of 2020, only 17% of articles published by the Royal Society were open access. This rose to 60% in 2024 but dropped to 55% for articles published so far this year.
Rod Cookson, the Royal Society’s publishing director in Oxford, UK, described the S2O model as “a clean and simple transition to open access” and said it could achieve 100% open access in one move. André Gaul, chief executive of EMS Press in Berlin, praised the Royal Society’s decision, calling it “a fantastic move” and expressing hope that more publishers would follow suit. If the Royal Society does not obtain enough subscriptions to cover publication costs, it will continue charging APCs and reassess the model in 2027.
Subscribe-to-open model adoption by Royal Society
The society’s two remaining journals will continue under the APC-based open-access model. The Royal Society is joining a growing number of scientific publishers implementing the S2O model.
This year, 378 journals are published under this model, up from 192 last year. Laura Simonite, head of business development at EMS Press, noted that the model is sustainable as it repurposes traditional library spending without requiring additional budgets. EDP Sciences, based in Les Ulis, France, also began its S2O program in 2021 and now publishes eight journals under the model.
However, it faced challenges in maintaining open access for some journals due to subscription shortfalls. With financial backing from various French scientific societies, these journals were able to remain open access. Selina La Barbera, publishing director at EDP Sciences, acknowledged the precarious nature of the model but emphasized the strong collaboration required to sustain open access.
The adoption of the S2O model by the UK Royal Society marks a significant step towards broader open-access scientific publishing, fostering greater accessibility to scientific knowledge.
