BioOne, the leading nonprofit aggregator in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences, today announced that 71 titles from 54 global societies, museums, and research organizations will participate in its Subscribe to Open (S2O) pilot beginning in January 2026. This represents the largest number of independent publishers under a single S2O offer to date.
This announcement follows a year of careful analysis in collaboration with BioOne’s publisher community. Titles eligible for the pilot were limited to those exclusively available via the aggregation BioOne Complete. According to the list maintained by the Subscribe to Open Community of Practice, among the pilot cohort are the first S2O titles published in Japan, Brazil, China, and Kenya.
“We firmly believe that S2O embodies the forthcoming trajectory in academic journal evolution,” said Ran Shenghong, Editorial Director for Journal of Resources and Ecology, published by the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. “We are pleased to engage in BioOne’s pilot and appreciate BioOne’s work in forging this path.”
BioOne Complete will remain a single integrated collection of subscribed, S2O, and gold OA titles. BioOne will work closely with library and consortia partners throughout 2025 in support of its inaugural S2O offer for the 2026 volume year. Partners such as California Digital Library, on behalf of the University of California System, have already committed to multi-year licenses which include the S2O pilot years in support of this initiative.
“The response from the BioOne community in support of our Subscribe to Open pilot has been extraordinary,” said Lauren Kane, BioOne President/CEO. “We are proud to extend an equitable path to open for nonprofit publishers that might not otherwise be in a position to make this transition.”
