Launch to Open

Pioneered by EMS Press, Launch to Open is a transparent framework for open access, developed to help established journals move away from commercial publishing models. Based on the Subscribe to Open approach, it balances publisher investment with institutional support, while bringing full transparency to costs, targets and revenue allocation.

Launch to Open logo

Transparent costs | Balanced responsibility | Open access

Journals in the 2027 Launch to Open round

Why Launch to Open?

Open access is widely supported in principle, but the available routes are often limited in practice. Article fees shift costs onto authors and funders, while ‘Big Deal’ bundles and Read and Publish agreements can be opaque, unevenly distributed, and tied to large commercial portfolios. For established journals, these structures can make it difficult to move away from major publishers, even where there is strong support for a more community-led approach.

Developed by EMS Press, Launch to Open (L2O) is an alternative path to open access for established journals. It builds on the Subscribe to Open (S2O) model to support journals that researchers already know and trust in that transition, without relying on APCs or creating new titles. By publishing costs, targets and revenue allocation openly, it gives institutions a transparent basis for support while enabling EMS Press to invest in journals that need a viable route toward a more sustainable, community-led future.

How it works

L2O runs on an annual basis, like S2O, with a 31 January deadline for subscriptions to count towards the target. There are, however, several important differences:

  • Each Launch to Open journal has a published annual target based on its projected running costs. 

  • A transparent report of those costs is published alongside the target on a dedicated L2O webpage for each title in the programme.

  • Institutions subscribe to the journal for the subscription year. All subscription revenue for that journal contributes directly towards the target.

  • EMS Press publishes regular progress updates, so subscribers can see how subscription income is accruing towards the target.

  • If the target is met by 31 January 2027, the journal publishes open access for that year under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

  • If the target is not met, the journal remains behind a paywall and is only accessible to subscribers for that year. The target is recalculated for the following year, reflecting updated costs.

Benefits

Launch to Open gives institutions a transparent way to support the transition of established mathematics journals toward open access, while giving researchers a route to open publication in journals they already know and trust. It is designed to balance institutional support with publisher investment, so that responsibility for sustaining valued journals does not fall on one side alone.

For researchers

  • Supports journals with established reputations, readerships and editorial communities, rather than adding new titles to an already crowded landscape.

  • Helps move journals out of commercial control without asking authors and readers to leave behind the venues they know and trust.

  • Makes open access publishing available to all authors, not only those covered by Read and Publish agreements or APC funding.

  • Reduces reliance on piecemeal hybrid arrangements by offering a clear route to full open access when a journal’s target is met.

  • Supports compliance with funder and institutional open access requirements through immediate Green OA of the Author Accepted Manuscript under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

For institutions and funders

  • Supports journals that are already used and valued by your research communities.

  • Replaces opaque and byzantine commercial arrangements with transparent subscription pricing.

  • Shows exactly what each journal costs to sustain, what subscription income supports, and what is required for open publication in a given year.

  • Provides a clearer basis for budget decisions and ongoing support, with prices tied to real publishing costs rather than arbitrary increases.

  • Enables institutions to align spending with stated commitments to openness, sustainability and community-led publishing.

  • Guarantees access to archive content, subscribed volumes and online-first articles throughout an active subscription.

  • Ensures that, if the target is not met, subscribers still retain access – in perpetuity – through the subscription model for that year.

Subscription and access

Subscriptions for the 2027 Launch to Open titles are now open.

As with the EMS Press Subscribe to Open programme, journals in Launch to Open are available at Early Adopter discounted pricing until the decision deadline of 31 January 2027, after which rates revert to standard pricing. Discounts are also available for multi-year and package subscriptions.

A subscription guarantees archive access, access to online-first articles, and perpetual access to subscribed volumes, regardless of the outcome of the 2027 round.

For more information on pricing and subscription options, contact info@ems.press.

Further information