Rethinking the model for sustainable open access
Scott Delman reflects on how ACM is building a strategic, collaborative and long-term path to OA to make computing research accessible and sustainable
What does it take to make the world’s computing research openly available, while maintaining the systems that support its quality, reach, and integrity? At the Association for Computing Machinery, this question has shaped every step of our approach.
Our open access transition has been guided by careful design, close collaboration with the global research community, and a commitment to building a sustainable model that works for institutions, authors, and the broader research community.
ACM Open: a model built through partnership
ACM’s approach to open access has been shaped through discussions and collaboration with academic institutions, funders, and library consortia. The result is ACM Open, a model designed not just to enable open-access publishing, but to do so in a way that is equitable, transparent, and financially sustainable for the long term.
At its core, ACM Open shifts costs away from the traditional ‘Read Only’ license model to a new tiered model based on publishing activity. Institutions pay a fixed fee calculated from their average publishing output over the previous three years, providing both predictability and fairness in pricing.
The model offers:
- Unlimited open access publishing for affiliated corresponding authors;
- Premium access to the ACM Digital Library; and
- A clear and scalable route to participation, regardless of institutional size or geography.
Importantly, the model is built to ensure that all institutions of all sizes can take part in the transition to open, without placing a disproportionate burden on those with lower research output.
Tackling the practical challenges
Transitioning to open access at scale is a complex process that goes beyond financial planning. For ACM, three major challenges shaped the development and implementation of ACM Open:
1. Financial sustainability
Moving away from a subscription-based model meant ensuring that ACM Open could support itself without creating long-term financial risk. The priority was to maintain the quality, editorial oversight, and operational infrastructure that underpins ACM’s publishing program, while maintaining a strong value proposition for participating institutions.
2. Institutional buy-in
A model like ACM Open only works if institutions support it. From the outset, ACM focused on building trust by working closely with universities and library consortia to demonstrate that this wasn’t just another transformative agreement, but a credible and collaborative route to full open access. ACM is currently the only major publisher in the field to have committed fully to this transition, and is succeeding in converting the majority of its former ‘read only’ customers to the new model.
3. Operational complexity
Transitioning an entire publishing program to OA isn’t just a financial shift. It requires major changes in processes and systems. Licensing, workflows, and communications all needed to be adapted to ensure a smooth and positive experience for libraries, researchers, and authors.
Progress through transparency
More than 1,900 institutions across more than 65 countries have now joined ACM Open. Together, they represent approximately 70 to 75% of ACM’s annual publishing output across journals, magazines and conferences.
From the beginning, ACM has prioritised transparency in the development of ACM Open. The goal has never been to increase revenues, but rather to transition ACM’s publishing program in a way that covers direct and indirect expenses associated with ACM’s publishing program, and provides a fair and reasonable path for increasing income in line with increased expenses over time.
To support this, ACM has committed to sharing financial and publication data with participating institutions, helping them understand how pricing is set and how the transition is progressing.
What we’ve learned
Throughout the development of ACM Open, three lessons have proved particularly important:
- Engage institutions early and often – Models are more likely to succeed when they are shaped in close collaboration with libraries, funders, and the research community. Early engagement ensures the approach reflects institutional priorities and supports long-term participation.
- Make financial transparency a priority – Institutions value a clear understanding of how pricing is determined and how their contributions support the publishing program. Transparency builds trust and provides a foundation for scalable growth.
- Think beyond APCs – Article processing charges alone can create cost uncertainty and administrative burden, particularly for institutions with varying output and authors who rely heavily on research grants. By aligning fees with publishing activity at the institutional level, models like ACM Open offer a more predictable and balanced approach to supporting open access at scale.
The road ahead
ACM is on track to transition its entire publications program on 1 January 2026 to 100% Open Access, but that does not mean the work is finished next year. Approximately 70 to 75% of the articles ACM publishes each year will be covered by ACM Open institutional licenses, but that means that 25 to 30% would be required to pay APCs when they publish with ACM. It is ACM’s goal to continue working with ‘Digital Library Read Only’ institutions around the world that have not yet signed on to ACM Open to further lower the percentage of authors faced with paying APCs in the coming years. We believe this is possible, but that we are unlikely to reach 100% via ACM Open. Nevertheless, we do believe 80 to 85% is possible over the next three years, as more institutions see the value in the model.
As the program continues to grow, our focus remains on supporting a diverse global research community, maintaining financial sustainability, and increasing access to high-quality computing research, including areas of rapid development such as artificial intelligence.
Achieving this is not only about making content openly available. It also depends on putting in place the shared infrastructure, partnerships and financial models that allow institutions and publishers to support open access in a way that is both effective and sustainable.
The transition brings complexity but our experience with ACM Open shows that, with careful planning and collaboration, progress is both achievable and already well under way.
To find out more about ACM Open: https://www.acm.org/
Scott Delman is Director of Publications, Association for Computing Machinery
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