The world is on the brink of an open science revolution. By 2030, the global research landscape will look fundamentally different, driven by a shared ambition to make scientific knowledge freely accessible to all. Its successful implementation hinges not just on policy shifts or publisher commitments, but on the sustained engagement of those who work daily to bring together research, access, and infrastructure: librarians.
Long recognized as custodians of knowledge, librarians today are being asked to wear many more hats — copyright advisor, research impact analyst, and increasingly, negotiator of institutional publishing agreements. In each of these roles, they are pivotal to shaping how open science evolves, not only within their institutions but across national and global academic networks.
At Frontiers, we know that fully open access publishing can only be achieved in collaboration with university libraries, research centers, consortia, and funders. And to make this happen, we have developed practical models that address the tensions and misalignments institutions face between mission, infrastructure, and funding.
From subscription to strategy: rethinking the nature of partnerships
Open science isn’t just a goal; it’s a necessity. The transition from subscription-based publishing to open access has been underway for more than two decades, but the last few years have seen a proliferation of ’transformative agreements.’ These arrangements where libraries shift budgets from subscription spending toward covering publication costs, have served as an important bridge. But their limitations are now evident.
For many librarians, transformative agreements have become double-edged swords: while they offer a mechanism to expand open access, they often preserve legacy pricing structures and opaque negotiation dynamics. They also frequently exclude certain disciplines, smaller institutions, or early-career researchers who may not meet eligibility criteria, thus raising concerns about equity and sustainability.
This is where models centered on full open access publishing present an alternative worth exploring. Our goal is not just to reallocate costs, but to redefine the value proposition of library-publisher collaboration. That means developing agreements that are:
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predictable in cost, so that libraries can plan multi-year budgets with clarity.
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transparent in structure, so the full terms are visible to both staff and researchers.
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inclusive by design, so all authors affiliated with an institution, regardless of career stage or funding source, can publish openly without individual APCs.
But more importantly, it means respecting the role of librarians as equal partners in the process, as strategic co-designers of the systems that will support the future of research dissemination.
Beyond compliance: open science as an institutional commitment
For many research-intensive universities, open access mandates from funders have created a pressing need for librarians to ensure that researchers remain compliant. Yet true engagement with open science goes beyond compliance. It reflects the commitment by institutions to transparency, public accountability, and the democratization of knowledge.
Librarians are uniquely positioned to articulate and operationalize these commitments across campus through open education initiatives, data stewardship programs, and collaborations with research offices. Institutional publishing partnerships can support these broader efforts, particularly when structured to meet a range of goals:
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Reducing financial barriers for authors.
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Increasing the visibility and discoverability of institutional research outputs.
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Demonstrating the social and academic impact of openly available work.
This is particularly critical for public institutions whose mission includes serving society at large. Open access ensures that research paid for by the public is accessible to the public, and librarians are often the ones making that vision tangible, through both policy and infrastructure.
Measuring what matters: impact beyond metrics
Traditional publishing has long been intertwined with prestige-driven metrics – Journal Impact Factors, journal rankings, citation counts. But as the open science movement broadens the definition of research value, librarians are championing alternative forms of impact: community engagement, policy uptake, interdisciplinary collaboration, and global reach.
Frontiers supports these efforts by offering usage and impact dashboards that libraries can use to track and communicate the benefits of open access publishing. These tools are designed not just for internal reporting, but to support broader conversations about what impact looks like and whom it should serve.
We know that librarians are being asked to do more with less, and to justify both their budgets and their strategic decisions. Our institutional agreements provide meaningful data to help demonstrate ROI in a landscape where value is increasingly measured in public good, not just citation counts.
Working together toward a shared goal
Whether your main objectives are to comply with funder mandates, reduce APC costs for researchers, or increase the visibility of your institution’s research output, we are here to support you every step of the way.
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We collaborate with institutions to help you transition your budget from funding closed or hybrid models toward fully open, sustainable publishing models.
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We believe in the co-creation of alternative models that ensure all researchers participate in open access publishing.
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We support institutions by developing resources that demonstrate the societal impact of making research fully open.
We do not see open access as a product to be sold, nor libraries as passive recipients of publishing services. Instead, we see our institutional partnerships as collaborative efforts to remove structural barriers to publishing, support a more equitable research landscape, and return control over academic communication to those who care most about its future.
Librarians are already leading this transformation in countless ways: advising faculty, shaping institutional policy, piloting open education programs, managing repositories, and negotiating complex deals on behalf of their communities. Our role, as a publisher committed to full open access, is to support, not supplant, that leadership. Because ultimately, open science isn’t just a future we hope for— it’s one we must build together.
About Frontiers
Frontiers is one of the world’s largest and most impactful research publishers, dedicated to making peer-reviewed, quality-certified science openly accessible. With more than 3 million researchers across 222 community-led journals covering 1,700 academic disciplines, we provide researchers with a trusted, cutting-edge, AI-powered open science platform to rigorously review their findings and maximize the dissemination of their discoveries. As an open access pioneer, we actively drive the global transition to open science, working with researchers, universities, educators, policymakers, and businesses.
For more details about our open access agreements, please visit our website. If you want to learn more about our institutional partnerships, submit this contact form or email us at institutions@frontiersin.org.