The MIT Press has announced the opening of its 2027 funding cycle for Direct to Open (D2O), following the completion of the 2026 program. The initiative invites libraries worldwide to support its diamond open access model, which provides scholarly books freely to readers.
In 2026, participation from more than 260 library partners enabled a new collection of MIT Press scholarly books to be made openly available. This outcome reflects the continued commitment of libraries to collaborative models that expand access to high‑quality monographs.
Since its launch in 2021, D2O has adapted to the evolving landscape of scholarly publishing. Initially designed to cover partial direct costs of monographs, the model has faced rising publishing expenses. The Press emphasized that institutional support remains critical to sustaining the program and ensuring the continued delivery of valuable monographs and edited collections.
The MIT Press highlighted that open access books published under D2O have achieved measurable impact, including award recognition and increased citation rates compared to non‑open counterparts. Recent award‑winning titles include The Future Is Present by Philip Glahn and Cary Levin, The Equitably Resilient City by Zachary B. Lamb and Lawrence J. Vale, Transforming School Food Politics around the World edited by Jennifer E. Gaddis and Sarah A. Robert, Data Rules by Cristina Alaimo and Jannis Kallinikos, Cloud Policy by Jennifer Holt, Trans Technologies by Oliver L. Haimson, Archiving Machines by Amelia Acker, Let Geography Die by Alison Mountz and Kira Williams, Playframes by Celia Pearce, and The Patina of Distrust by Eugenia Mitchelstein, Pablo J. Boczkowski, María Celeste Wagner, and Facundo Suenzo.
The MIT Press thanked libraries for their support in 2026, which enabled open access to critical scholarly research. More than 500 open access titles are available on the MIT Press Direct platform, and libraries can activate these titles in their discovery systems using free MARC records.
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