Annual Reviews has signed an agreement with Wiley to acquire Knowledge Unlatched (KU), marking a pivotal transition for one of the most recognized open access (OA) initiatives in scholarly publishing. The move will bring KU into a nonprofit environment, reinforcing its mission to advance equitable and scalable access to academic content.
Founded in 2012 by publishing innovator Frances Pinter, KU pioneered a crowdfunding model in which libraries around the world collectively finance the open access publication of books and journals. Over the past decade, this model has helped make thousands of scholarly titles freely accessible to readers globally, demonstrating that library-supported OA can be effective, scalable, and sustainable.
Richard Gallagher, President and Editor-in-Chief of Annual Reviews, emphasized KU’s enduring impact in advancing open access. He noted that Knowledge Unlatched has played a pivotal role in demonstrating that large-scale open access for books and monographs is viable. Looking ahead, he said Annual Reviews is eager to build on this legacy by keeping KU at the forefront of open access book publishing, supporting broader adoption of the Subscribe to Open model among journal publishers, and taking a more active role in coordinating and promoting Diamond Open Access efforts worldwide.
Wiley, which acquired Knowledge Unlatched in 2021, facilitated the transfer to Annual Reviews to support KU’s continued development within a more mission-aligned, nonprofit framework. David Nicholson, General Manager of Wiley Publisher Solutions, said the transition ensures KU benefits from a structure specifically focused on serving the library and publishing communities it was created to support. He added that the move allows Wiley to maintain its broader commitment to innovation in scholarly publishing while enabling KU to grow within a stewardship model grounded in community-driven values.
The KU team and programs will remain in place, maintaining continuity for partner libraries and publishers. The transaction is expected to close by late summer 2025.
Click here to read the original press release.
