Open Access Journal Publishing 2024-2028

Report Overview

How many articles are in the Directory of Open Access Journals?

• 1.117 million

Open Access sales reached $1.9 billion in 2023 and $2.1 billion in 2024, up from $1.8 billion in 2022) and are expected to grow to $3.2 billion by 2028. Simba Information’s Open Access Journal Publishing 2024-2028 report details the diverse mix of revenue streams in OA Journal publishing in 2024 and beyond. It also examines the research integrity crisis confronting the sector, the decrease in the number of titles being published, and how publishers and policy makers are responding.

This report provides an overview and financial outlook for the OA journal publishing market, including the performance of leading competitors’ through 2024 and market projections through 2028. To produce this data, Simba used the information from global OA journal sales, leading publishers, and revenue projections through 2028. To develop a financial outlook for open access journal publishing Simba consulted primary and secondary research, competitor interviews, industry expert consultations, and financial data analysis. 

Also included is an in-depth review of the performance and strategy of 10 leading OA publishers, including:

• Springer Nature

• Elsevier

• MDPI AG

• John Wiley & Sons

• Frontiers

• IEEE

• Informa PLC

• SAGE Publications

Open Access Journal Publishing 2024-2028 contains separate chapters covering the market, key competitors, and trends and forecast that include: 

• Simba’s exclusive analysis of market size and structure

• Revenue and market share rankings of 10 leading global publishers

• Title and article growth metrics

• A breakdown of players in the open access ecosystem including public and private research funders.

• A breakdown of open access publishing in key geographic regions: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and emerging markets

• Updated data on the latest mergers and acquisitions

• Simba’s exclusive market projections to 2028  

Other key issues covered in the report, include:

• Internet Economics

• Plan S

• US Policy Changes

• Transformative Agreements

• Global R&D Spending forecast

Open Access Journal Publishing 2024-2028 is an essential tool for scholarly publishing executives, academic libraries, M&A advisors, market analysts, and industry consultants who need to understand the business strategies driving the scholarly and professional publishing industry.

Methodology for Projecting/Estimating Results

Estimates of sales and projections are based on classification of revenue into component categories as well as geographic splits. Guidance from analysts, annual reports, 10-Ks and industry insider observations of growth or weakness are then applied. Currency movements and M&A activity also play an important role.

Simba’s forecast methodology is akin to its approach to building actual global market size numbers. We discuss trends and insights with industry executives and research secondary sources, analyst reports and industry studies.

Principal drivers of the 2024-2028 forecasts are: extrapolation of recent trends, M&A activity, global and national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecasts, industry forecasts, company forecasts, publishing trends, and the impact of announced mandates. Article metrics are particularly important in open access as well. GDP growth forecasts are used for year-to-year variations. These come from a variety of sources, including The Freedonia Group, IMF World Economic Outlook, and the Conference Board Global Economic Outlook. Growth rates in individual countries with strong publishing industries are particularly important.

What is Open Access Publishing?

Open access is the online publication of research articles free of any charge to the reader and without most copyright and licensing restrictions. The term was only coined 20 years ago and continues to undergo theoretical debate about how free the cost and how restrictive the rights are.

There are three primary types of open access: gold, green, and hybrid. Gold is usually delivered by journals that collect a fee from the author in exchange for open publication. Green is delivered by authors depositing their unreviewed papers into open repositories or when published journal articles are eventually made free after an embargo period. When an individual article is offered free within journals that are otherwise sold on a subscription basis, that is the hybrid model.

Revenue for gold and hybrid OA comes almost exclusively from Article Processing Charges (APCs) usually paid by funders of the research from which the articles are drawn. APCs can be charged in fully-OA journals as well as hybrid journals. However, most articles available via open access are published without payment from an APC. Most green articles have become available, after an embargo period, originally supported by a subscription charge.

OA journals are usually peer reviewed, though how rigorous this is can be a point of contention. OA publishers usually allow copyright to be maintained by the author.