Our commitment as a nonprofit
As a trusted, nonprofit organization, JSTOR has made a commitment across our products and services to provide equitable, sustainable models to maximize access to knowledge.
Being an independent nonprofit uniquely allows us to operate between libraries and publishers and users, balancing their needs and interests—with the ultimate goal of providing equitable access to knowledge today and in the future.
Our priorities and approach
01
Provide affordable access for everyone
- We actively choose to keep fees low to reach more people, whether it’s our comprehensive model for journals and primary sources, or our diverse ebook models. We lead with our mission, one decision at a time
- Through the JSTOR Access Initiative, we provide free or very low-cost access to more than 1,500 institutions around the world
- With the JSTOR Access in Prison initiative, we provide JSTOR access to learners in jails and prisons
- Our free reading program makes scholarly journals accessible to everyone anywhere in the world, regardless of their ability to pay
02
Support sustainable open access content
Our partnerships with libraries and publishers help us grow open access through content and community initiatives that make more content discoverable and freely accessible worldwide, including:
- Reveal Digital, a collaboration with libraries to fund, source, digitize, and publish open access primary source collections from under-represented voices
- Path to Open, which offers a sustainable open access solution for libraries, supports the nonprofit university press community, and invests in authors, by making books in the program open access three years after publication
- JSTOR Daily, which makes scholarship more accessible through engaging articles and free teaching resources that enrich learning in the humanities, arts, and social sciences—each linking to open and freely available content on JSTOR
03
Lead the preservation of scholarship
- We have secured the needed rights to ensure content on JSTOR is accessible to libraries for the long-term, providing a trusted alternative to hard copies on shelves
- Our digital content can be readily converted to newer formats as they are developed in the future
- Digital files for the entire archive are preserved using the approach and infrastructure developed by Portico
- Our archives can be transferred to a third-party steward in the extremely unlikely event that JSTOR should ever cease operations
04
Advance scholarship and teaching practices
- Our faculty resource library provides comprehensive support for teaching and learning
- JSTOR Workspace simplifies research organization and citation
- JSTOR’s AI-enabled explorations help people discover, evaluate, and engage with knowledge
The latest from JSTOR
JSTOR Stewardship introduces alt text tools and workflows for image-based materials
New alt text capabilities in JSTOR Stewardship help libraries and archives create, manage, and publish accessible image descriptions, with JSTOR Seeklight supporting draft generation at scale.
Making images more accessible: Introducing alt text in JSTOR Stewardship
New alt text tools in JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services help institutions make image collections more accessible while keeping expert review and judgment at the center.
Empowering research impact with JSTOR
The session will also showcase JSTOR’s latest developments and demonstrate how these resources can support research and education across South Asia.
Path to Open: What Happens When Scholarly Books Become Open?
Join us for a virtual Charleston webinar on Thursday, September 3, 2026, from 11:00 AM–12:00 PM ET.
JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services training: Publishing and Preservation for JSTOR Seeklight
Training for Stewardship Tier 3 participants: Publishing Seeklight collections to JSTOR, preserving with Portico. Part of a quarterly Seeklight training series.
JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services training: Advanced features
Training for Stewardship participants (Tiers 2-3): learn how to build and manage complex relationships with your assets. One of three sessions in a monthly Stewardship training series.
JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services Receives Mellon Foundation Digitization Grant
Library Journal highlights JSTOR Stewardship’s new funding initiative for libraries and archives, supporting digitization, AI-assisted processing with JSTOR Seeklight, and broader public access to distinctive collections.
Reflection as direction: Expanding information access for incarcerated people
Elizabeth Lovero reflects on the final convening of the Expanding Information Access for Incarcerated People Initiative and the community effort required to turn standards into meaningful access.
Trinity College expands partnership with JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services through charter program
Trinity College is deepening its work with JSTOR Stewardship by joining the charter program, gaining access to JSTOR Seeklight and scaling collections processing with expert oversight.
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