The UK-based not-for-profit publisher, Royal Society, is set to convert eight of its journals to the “subscribe to open” (S2O) publishing model starting next year. This move aims to make all content from these journals freely accessible as long as enough libraries commit to paying an annual subscription fee.
Currently, only 55% of articles published by the Royal Society are open access, with a significant increase from 17% in 2020. The S2O model is designed to gradually phase out article-processing charges (APCs) and achieve full open-access coverage.
Eight of the Royal Society’s journals will switch to the new model, while the two remaining journals will continue under the existing APC-based open-access system. If subscriptions do not meet publication costs, the society will resume charging APCs and try again in 2027.
The move follows a growing trend among scientific publishers, with over 378 journals currently published under the S2O model. Other notable adopters include Annual Reviews, which switched to S2O in 2020, and EDP Sciences, which started its S2O program in 2021.
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02483-0