Every June, the scholarly publishing ecosystem undergoes a familiar ritual. Inboxes and industry feeds flood with identical, celebratory corporate press releases as Clarivate drops the latest Journal Citation Reports (JCR). But for publishing executives navigating a market defined by massive commercial consolidation, the real value of these metrics lies beneath the surface. The true strategic question isn't "Did our scores go up?" but rather, "What do these metrics tell us about the structural shift in where researchers want to publish?"

As the research community navigates recent Office of Management and Budget (OMB) revisions, a seductive argument has surfaced in the debate over open science: why do we need article processing charges (APCs) at all when Green (repository deposit) and Diamond (institutionally subsidized) OA models exist?

At JMIR Publications, we believe that choosing the right journal is one of the most critical steps in a researcher’s journey. For over two decades, we have supported open-science frameworks that provide diverse, reliable pathways to measure a paper’s reach and community impact.

Open-access publishing is built on a promise: research funded by the public should be freely available to the public. A sweeping new proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) threatens to break that promise by fundamentally rewriting how federal grants are awarded, managed, and published.

For over 25 years, JMIR Publications has operated on a simple premise: health research should be immediately and freely accessible to all. However, recent policy changes from major funders like Cancer Research UK (CRUK) now threaten to dismantle the very "Full Open Access" model that made this possible. By cutting all APC support, these policies risk stifling independent, scholar-led publishers while leaving the massive revenue streams of legacy publishers untouched. Below, we share our response to CRUK and propose five alternatives that reform the system without sacrificing the progress of the last two decades.

In response to "Is Subscribe to Open Good for Libraries?" Three librarians explain the model’s appeal and explore the challenges it presents. By Laurie Taylor, Miranda Bennett and Katherine Brooks | 02.17.2026

Since its inception in 1999, JMIR Publications has been more than just a publisher—it has been a laboratory for the future of scholarly communication. As one of the world's first open-access publishers, JMIR has consistently pushed the boundaries of how scientific knowledge is captured, shared, and preserved.

Librarians play a critical role in supporting their institutional researchers. A critical area of support is with open science mandates, or practices that prioritize openness, transparency, and collaboration throughout the research cycle. Research that follows open science practices carries many benefits, including: 

(TORONTO, September 22, 2025) JMIR Publications, a leading open-access digital health research publisher, and Iowa State Universityare pleased to announce that they have modified their long-standing partnership from a multi-payor model to JMIR’s Flat-Fee Unlimited Open Access Publishing model.