Who publishes our open access publications?

The theme of the International Open Access Week 2025 is "Who owns our knowledge." The question can be specified by considering who controls our open access publications, meaning in which open access journals owned by whom our researchers publish the most. A recent study published in the Informaatiotutkimus journal examines the open publishing channels used by researchers from Aalto University and the University of Helsinki between 2020 and 2023.

The most popular open access journals

Researchers at Aalto University publish most frequently in IEEE Access, an open access journal from the IEEE publisher. The favorite among researchers at the University of Helsinki is Scientific Reports from the Springer Nature publisher, which ranks third on Aalto's list of frequently used open access journals. At Aalto, the most popular publisher is MDPI, while at the University of Helsinki, it is Springer Nature. At Aalto, the ten most popular journals are distributed across five publishers (MDPI, Springer Nature, IEEE, APS, Elsevier), whereas there is more diversity in publisher selection among researchers at the University of Helsinki. Their top ten include eight different publishers (Springer Nature, PLoS, Copernicus Publications, MDPI, Elsevier, Frontiers, BMJ, and Oxford University Press).

At both universities, large international publishers clearly dominate the open access publishing. In Aalto's top ten, all journals charge author fees, while the University of Helsinki's list also includes two so-called diamond open access journals that charge neither authors nor readers. However, even these journals are owned by large publishers: the Journal of High Energy Physics is a Springer Nature publication, and Physics Letters B is published by Elsevier.

The most popular diamond open access journals

In free of charge diamond open access journals, the three most popular among University of Helsinki researchers are produced by major publishers. Trailing the Journal of High Energy Physics are Physics Letters B from Elsevier and another physics journal from Springer Nature, the European Physical Journal C. At Aalto University, the top three looks quite different: Aalto University's own publications, Research in Arts and Education and Architectural Research in Finland, lead the list, followed by the journal Yhdyskuntasuunnittelu, published by the Finnish Society for Community Planning.

When examining the top ten diamond open access journals as a whole, it becomes apparent that domestic diamond journals are also popular at the University of Helsinki. Five Finnish journals have made it into the top ten: Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, Kasvatus & Aika, Media ja Viestintä, Terra, and Gerontologia. At Aalto, the leading group has an even stronger domestic representation with six journals: Research in Arts and Education, Architectural Research in Finland, Yhdyskuntasuunnittelu, Rakenteiden mekaniikka, Kansantaloudellinen aikakauskirja, and Finnish Journal of eHealth and eWelfare. The journal selections clearly seem to reflect differences in the universities' academic disciplines, as there is no overlap in the top diamond open access journals between the two universities.

The short answer to the question posed at the beginning is that large publishers currently dominate publishing open access articles with author fees. In contrast, in diamond journals that are free for authors, the role of the academic community, such as universities and scholarly societies, is significantly stronger.

Contact 

Please contact Open Science and ACRIS team at acris@aalto.fi. We are happy to help researchers with any questions related to open access publishing. 

International Open Access Week 2025 is held 20-26 October. During the week, we publish brief, theme-related news at aalto.fi.