A commitment to advancing open access ebooks
As a pioneer and leading platform for open access ebooks, JSTOR supports libraries and publishers in expanding free access to high-quality scholarly works.
65M+
Uses worldwide
14K+
Rapidly growing titles from 145+ publishers
16.5K+
Accessing institutions
Solutions developed with the academic community
Books at JSTOR’s open access (OA) ebook programs provide unparalleled value and access to high-quality content for institutions and scholars everywhere.
Our OA initiatives:
- Remove barriers to access and discovery while ensuring academic rigor, long-term preservation, and global reach
- Ensure long-term preservation by safeguarding in Portico, a trusted digital preservation service
- Help publishers fund new titles, and libraries invest in a more inclusive, accessible future for scholarly publishing
The impact of OA titles on JSTOR
Usage for over 1,000 licensed titles increased by an average of 5,500% following conversion to OA on JSTOR, and the average number of countries using these titles has increased 9x.
Collaborating to advance OA publishing
JSTOR collaborates with university presses, research centers, and global organizations to actively pilot new OA ebook initiatives, addressing systemic challenges in scholarly publishing while supporting libraries and publishers, and the readers we serve.
These efforts are reflected in several key initiatives, including:
- Path to Open, which supports bibliodiversity, features a library contribution component, and enables sustainable OA publishing that connects readers and authors around the world
- Publisher Collections, featuring complete sets from 20+ university and scholarly publishers—each demonstrating a strong commitment to open access, with 1,600+ OA titles collectively available on JSTOR
- Opening the Future, a hosting partner to assist Central European University Press and Liverpool University Press in amplifying global reach
- Latin American Monographs Project, featuring partnerships with CLACSO and LARRP to expand access to Latin American scholarship
- El Colegio de México, a grant-funded project to digitize 600+ out-of-print scholarly works for OA, making scholarship from Mexico globally accessible
- Knowledge Unlatched, an online marketplace that offers a central place for libraries and universities to support OA collections and models
Community voices
Discoverability, access, and preservation are often taken for granted with open access titles. But this is to overlook crucial parts of the book supply chain. If we are truly to see the benefits of open access for monographs, we need to ensure the broadest availability of the titles with clear and accessible metadata. This exciting partnership with JSTOR extends our work on this front and gives libraries ever more routes to support and then access OA monographs.
Despite established OA publishing models for scholarly works in Latin America, monograph discovery and preservation infrastructure for this important content in US libraries is virtually nonexistent. This multi-partner, horizontal, and librarian-led pilot is testing out sustainable partnerships that take into account the monograph lifecycle from publisher to library.
For scholars, students, and the general public alike JSTOR is one of the most important sources of scholarly literature in electronic format. Since we joined their Books at JSTOR program, we have seen their coverage of open access publications expand, and we are excited that our entire back catalog is now available through their platform. We strongly believe in a diverse open access landscape with a wide array of publishing and funding models and are happy to have an ally in JSTOR.
Big Ten Open Books is pursuing a robust programmatic future for open monograph publishing by creating open content, on open infrastructure, using open distribution models. JSTOR, one of our partners in this effort, has been working closely with the academic community to provide these essential services, helping realize our vision of making open scholarship reach millions of users.
Advancements shaping the future of open access books
A new model for scholarly ebooks: Publisher Collections built with, and for, librarians and publishers, to serve readers today and tomorrow
A new nonprofit-led model from JSTOR offers libraries and publishers a more sustainable, equitable, and integrated ecosystem for scholarly ebooks.
A new chapter for scholarship: Syracuse University and Path to Open
Learn how Syracuse University is advancing open access and bibliodiversity through its participation in JSTOR’s Path to Open, supporting sustainable publishing and expanding access to scholarship worldwide.
JSTOR recognized for driving usage of Knowledge Unlatched open access books
Knowledge Unlatched (KU), the global initiative for Open Access (OA), recently announced its OA Heroes 2024, highlighting the highest use nations, institutions, publishers, disciplines, and […]
Integrated with Books at JSTOR
OA is part of Books at JSTOR, which helps libraries streamline acquisition, expand access and discovery, and maximize the value of their collections. Books at JSTOR offers reliable, barrier-free access to ebooks—unlimited, DRM-free, and perpetual use—across flexible acquisition models. All titles are fully integrated with scholarly journals, research reports, images, and multimedia on JSTOR, and a partnership with OCLC provides high-quality MARC records.
Interested in other ebook acquisition and access options? JSTOR offers a variety of models to meet your needs, including Publisher Collections, Path to Open, Evidence-Based Acquisition, Demand-Driven Acquisition, and subject packages alongside OA.
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