The first 100 Path to Open books received more item requests in five weeks of open access than during the entire year of licensed access in 2025
Five weeks after becoming openly available, the first 100 Path to Open titles have already been used more than they were during the entire 2025 year, when they were available only through participating institutions. Usage was forecast to increase by more than 300%, while year-to-date data shows growth exceeding 580%.
Path to Open was launched as a pilot in 2023 to address a persistent challenge in scholarly publishing—how to expand global access to peer-reviewed academic books while ensuring long-term sustainability for university presses. Through a cost-sharing model supported by libraries, publishers receive guaranteed funding from JSTOR for new monographs, libraries gain early access to frontlist scholarship, and titles ultimately become free to read for anyone, anywhere, increasing the impact of authors’ scholarship.
Published by 31 university presses across 29 disciplines, the first 100 titles reflect both early publisher commitment and the breadth of scholarship supported through Path to Open. In 2025, when access to these titles was available only to participating institutions, they recorded a total of 15,178 item requests across the full year. As of February 11, those same 100 titles—now open access after flipping on January 6, 2026—have received 20,036 item requests, surpassing all 2025 usage by over 30%.
The increase reflects not only higher volume but broader reach, with readership expanding from six to 113 countries and from 242 to more than 1,208 institutions after opening access. These early results significantly exceed the program’s original success benchmark and underscore the immediate and sustained impact of open access on scholarly books.
“Seeing usage grow far beyond our forecast is a meaningful moment for everyone involved in Path to Open,” said John Lenahan, Vice President of Published Content at JSTOR. “Exceeding our original expectations so early signals that there is strong global demand for these works when they are openly available, and it affirms the mission at the heart of this model—expanding equitable access to high-quality scholarship. These results will help inform how the community continues to refine and scale open access publishing for monographs.”
Later this spring, as the three-year pilot concludes, the Path to Open Community Advisory Committee will share updates on next steps for the initiative, including how community feedback and real-world usage data like this will help inform its future direction. In the meantime, libraries are invited to continue joining the program to help shape—and benefit from—the next phase of this evolving model.
For a deeper look at the origins of Path to Open, the newly open titles, and what this milestone means for participating publishers and libraries, read the article “Celebrating 100 Path to Open books becoming open access.”