Subscribe to Open
Our five most-established journals are switching to S2O
We are excited to have found an open-access model that is equitable and makes sense for mathematics. Starting with 2023, we are adopting the Subscribe to Open model for these journals:
- Geometry & Topology,
- Algebraic & Geometric Topology,
- Algebra & Number Theory,
- Analysis & PDE, and
- Pacific Journal of Mathematics.
Each year, if enough subscribers continue to support the journal, that year’s articles will be published open access — free to read by everyone and with no author charges.
Frequently asked questions
What is Subscribe to Open?
Subscribe to Open (S2O) is a pragmatic and ethical approach for converting subscription journals to open access (OA; free and immediate online access to research articles), one year at a time and without relying on either author charges (APCs) or exclusively on altruism.
S2O relies on the support of the community, and uses the libraries’ existing processes for acquiring subscriptions. Libraries are invited to commit to subscribe or renew their subscription before a deadline early in the calendar year. For articles to be published in 2023, this deadline is 15 February 2023.
- If support is sufficient, then that year’s articles will be published open access under a Creative Commons license.
- If support is insufficient, then the paywall is retained, as for a traditional subscription. Further, late subscribers who had not committed to participate will now be charged a higher price.
The only way for an institution to be guaranteed uninterrupted access and the best price is to participate (and commit before the deadline). All paying subscribers will enjoy permanent access to that year’s articles, one-year access to the journal’s entire backlist, and access to usage statistics. S2O is a subscription model, not a voluntary donation. It funds a public good (open access to articles) by using each institution’s pursuit of its own interests.
The offer will be repeated every year, with the opening of each year’s content dependent on sufficient participation for that year.
We will expect almost full renewal of our subscriptions. If even a few current subscribers do not renew, it is likely that we will not be able to make that year open access.
S2O is considered a transformative agreement, satisfies most funders’ open-access requirements, and has been endorsed by a number of open-access organizations, including cOAlition S (see below).

Frequently asked questions
Other resources
- S2O Community of Practice
https://subscribetoopencommunity.org - R. Crow, R. Gallagher & K. Naim: “Subscribe to Open: A practical approach for converting subscription journals to open access”, Learned Publishing 33 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1262 - C. Brundy & G. Steel: “Subscribe to progress: Advancing equity through openness”, Commonplace 1 (2021)
https://doi.org/10.21428/6ffd8432.20811f1e - SPARC: “Equity is at heart of Subscribe to Open model” (2021)
https://sparcopen.org/news/2021/equity-is-at-heart-of-subscribe-to-open-model/ - Endorsement of S2O by
ALPSP,
cOAlition S,
CRL,
ESAC,
JISC,
LYRASIS,
OA2020
https://www.coalition-s.org/enabling-smaller-independent-publishers-to-participate-in-open-access-transformative-arrangements-a-commitment-from-key-stakeholders/