Direct to Open

Thirty-seven MIT Press monographs and edited collections publishing open access thanks to Direct to Open participants

The first open access books funded by libraries participating in MIT Press’s Direct to Open model are publishing this Spring

Thanks to the early support of libraries participating in Direct to Open (D2O), the MIT Press’s full list of spring 2022 scholarly monographs and edited collections are currently publishing open access on the MIT Press Direct platform. Twelve of the thirty-seven works are are already openly available to readers around the world:

The full list of Spring titles opened through the support of D2O participating libraries is available at mitpress.mit.edu/direct-to-open.

D2O moves professional and scholarly books from a solely market-based, purchase model, where individuals and libraries buy single eBooks, to a collaborative, library-supported open access model. Instead of purchasing a title once for a single collection, libraries have the opportunity to fund them one time for the world through participant fees.

To date, over 195 libraries and consortia from around the globe have committed to support the D2O initiative. The Press has also entered into licensing and invoicing agreements with Big Ten Academic Alliance; Council of Australian University Librarians; Center for Research Libraries; Greater Western Library Alliance; Northeast Research Libraries; Jisc; and Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation.

All libraries that have committed to support Direct to Open for 2022 receive access to all of the titles included in the model for the calendar year. For those who are interested, there’s still time to add your institution’s support, enjoy exclusive participation benefits, and help the Press reach its goal of fully funding the model in 2022 and opening all of its scholarly frontlist. The deadline for commitments is June 30.

Amy Brand, director and publisher of the MIT Press, emphasized the Press’s continued commitment to publishing its full 2022 monograph list open access. “In partnership with the D2O member libraries, we are proud to create a sustainable path for open access scholarship,” noted Brand. “We are thrilled to make the Press’s Spring 2022 monograph list openly available and we look forward to working with the wider academic community to fully fund the model and open our fall 2022 list as well.”

Go here to learn more about Direct to Open or to sign-up to become a participating library, or contact the MIT Press library partnerships and sales team.

About the MIT Press

Established in 1962, the MIT Press is one of the largest and most distinguished university presses in the world and a leading publisher of books and journals at the intersection of science, technology, art, social science, and design. MIT Press publications are known for their intellectual daring, scholarly standards, interdisciplinary focus, and distinctive design. Direct to Open (D2O) harnesses collective action to support open access to excellent scholarship. When successful, the model will open access to all new MIT Press scholarly monographs and edited collections (~90 titles per year) from 2022 via recurring participation fees, provide participating libraries with term access to backlist/archives (~2,300 titles) which will otherwise remain gated, and cover partial direct costs for the publication of high-quality works that are also available for print purchase.


Learn more about Direct to Open