Published February 18, 2026 | Version v1
Report Open

Small European publishers and the transition to open access publishing: a 2025 snapshot

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Information Power
  • 2. COUNTER
  • 3. Hanken School of Economics
  • 4. ROR icon OAPEN Foundation

Contributors

  • 1. State and University Library Göttingen
  • 2. Radboud University Press
  • 3. ROR icon Knowledge Exchange
  • 4. ROR icon Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg
  • 5. ROR icon University of Southern Denmark
  • 6. The Federation for Finnish Learned Societies
  • 7. ROR icon Royal Danish Library

Description

How are small scientific publishers approaching the transition to open access publishing models? What challenges do they face in this process? What are key benefits of transitioning to OA?

Knowledge Exchange have explored these and other related questions in our newly published report ‘Small European Publishers and the transition to Open Access publishing’. The study was informed by the 2022 report Landscape study of small journal publishers for the Knowledge Exchange, was undertaken by Information Power as an independent consultant and was commissioned and overseen by Knowledge Exchange. It concludes the Knowledge Exchange project exploring Small publishers and the transition to open access.

The study finds that the publishers interviewed for this project see considerable benefits in transitioning to open access publishing models (e g. increased visibility). They also feel a strong ethical alignment with OA principles. However, the benefits are offset by significant barriers and concerns. The study shows that small academic publishers face systemic inequities that can only be overcome with the coordinated support of funders, libraries, consortia, policymakers, and universities. The report contains detailed recommendations for further actions.

Our project aims to contribute to preserving bibliodiversity in scholarly publishing and to developing a polycentric publishing landscape geared toward the needs of researchers in all disciplines, research fields or scientific cultures.

Files

Small European Publishers and the transition to Open Access publishing DIGITAL.pdf

Files (2.3 MB)

Additional details

Related works

Continues
Publication: 10.5281/zenodo.7258049 (DOI)

Dates

Available
2026-02-18

References

  • Wise, A., Halevi, G., Jago, D., Estelle, L., Laakso, M., Snijder, R., Barnes-Wise, T. (2025). Small European publishers and the transition to open access publishing: a 2025 snapshot. Knowledge Exchange. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17950438