BioOne and the Max Planck Digital Library have entered a three-year agreement to provide all 84 Max Planck Society institutes with access to the BioOne Complete collection while supporting BioOne’s Subscribe to Open (S2O) pilot from 2026 to 2028. The partnership strengthens shared goals of sustainable open access and equitable scholarly communication.
BioOne’s S2O pilot encompasses 71 journals from 54 societies, museums, and research organizations — the largest collective of independent publishers under a single S2O framework. The agreement ensures ongoing reading access to BioOne Complete’s more than 230,000 biological sciences articles while contributing to the transition toward open access publishing.
Under the pilot, BioOne Complete will operate as a mixed-model collection of 219 titles, combining subscribed, S2O, and open access journals. When sustainability thresholds are met, current-year content from 71 S2O titles will become openly accessible. Otherwise, it will remain available to subscribers, who will continue to receive comprehensive access to both S2O and gated titles.
The collaboration reflects the Max Planck Society’s long-term support for BioOne’s nonprofit publishing community and its ongoing efforts to broaden global access to scientific knowledge.
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