The New OA Business Models

New business models for OA keep rolling out — from Subscribe to Open (S2O) to Direct to Open (MIT Press) to Commit to Open (OUP).

They come on the heels of so-called “transformative agreements,” where it seems those who thought they were doing the transforming were the ones ending up being transformed.

Aside from the floridly named “transformative agreements,” these new OA business models have one thing in common — the ability to disguise old business models as shiny new objects by including the word “open.”

• Transformative agreements are basically loyalty discount programs.

Some have recurring revenues, like S2O and Direct to Open. Others, like Commit to Open, are basically pre-sales in disguise. Some combine the two.

For the business owners, there are some obvious compromises being made, mainly be choosing the status quo over pursuing any major new revenues from publications. And that’s suggesting the contours of a strategic inflection point.

These models also represent an implicit condemnation of the APC model — after all, if APCs were so great and strategically desirable, why avoid them?