MIT Press Publishes 2025 Direct to Open (D2O) Impact Report

From MIT Press:

The continued growth in the reach of open access publishing couldn’t be more timely. In 2025, access to truth and facts are under attack, and democratizing access to trustworthy, peer-reviewed information has never been more important. In the face of so many forces working against the spread of knowledge, Direct to Open continues to be a critical tool.

To date, Direct to Open has funded the open publication of 320 books. On average, our open access Humanities and Social Sciences books are used 2.26 times more and receive 8% more citations than their non-open counterparts. Our open access STEAM books are used 1.6 times more and receive 5% more citations than their non-open counterparts. Our Direct to Open titles are immediately accessible around the world upon publication, and drastically lower barriers to access for global readers—reaching the communities that need this scholarship most.

“At a time when access to reliable, peer-reviewed knowledge is more critical than ever, Direct to Open continues to prove that collaboration can drive meaningful change in scholarly publishing,” said Amy Harris, senior manager of library relations and sales at the MIT Press. “We are grateful to the hundreds of libraries that have joined us in expanding the public knowledge commons, ensuring that groundbreaking ideas reach the widest possible audience and make a lasting impact.”

Our 2025 Direct to Open Impact Report reveals some key additional statistics on our open access monographs and the Direct to Open program:

• As of February 2025, Direct to Open titles have received 705,000 total reads.
• D2O titles have two times the amount of use as compared to our non-open access books.
• 13 library consortia and 407 libraries have participated in the program.

Direct to Full Text Report

Filed under: Libraries, News, Open Access, Publishing