Three-year agreement will deliver access to 84 Max Planck Institutes and support sustainable open access for independent nonprofit publishers.
Max Planck Digital Library and BioOne announced the signing of a three-year agreement to bring the flagship BioOne Complete aggregation to 84 Max Planck Society Institutes. Notably, this agreement includes the full term of BioOne’s Subscribe to Open (S2O) pilot from 2026 through 2028, supporting shared goals of sustainable open access and equitable scholarly communications.
BioOne’s Subscribe to Open pilot brings together 71 journals from 54 societies, museums, and research organizations worldwide into a conditional open access framework —representing the largest number of independent publishers under a single S2O offer to date. This agreement ensures that all 84 Max Planck Institutes maintain reading access to the full BioOne Complete’s collection of over 230,000 biological sciences articles while simultaneously advancing open access objectives. Success of this pilot will also connect Max Planck Institute-affiliated researchers with broader audiences throughout the international biosciences community.
“We appreciate Max Planck Society’s commitment to BioOne’s community of nonprofit publishers,” said Christine Orr, BioOne’s Senior Director of Business and Community Development. “As long-term library partners spanning more than two decades, the Max Planck Society has consistently supported BioOne’s mission. This agreement underscores the Max Planck’s sustained dedication to sustainable scholarly communications and to broadening the reach of critical research from the scientific communities we serve.”
Ádám Dér, Head of the Scientific Information Provision at the Max Planck Digital Library remarked: “We’re pleased to support BioOne’s Subscribe to Open pilot, through which we not only serve our researchers but also contribute to the wider scholarly community. This agreement reflects our long-standing goal of making research accessible to all and our commitment to supporting diverse pathways toward open scholarship, ensuring our researchers can both access and share knowledge freely while supporting independent scholarly publishers.”
Throughout the S2O pilot, BioOne Complete will be a mixed model collection of 219 subscribed, S2O, and OA titles. With sufficient support from subscribing libraries, current-year content of the 71 S2O titles will be made open access. If the sustainability threshold is not met, that content will remain available only to subscribers. Supporting subscribers exclusively benefit from access to all current and backfile content from both S2O and gated titles.
BioOne and Max Planck Digital Library are proud to advance our shared vision of creating a more open future while ensuring the sustainability of both nonprofit publishers and libraries.
Learn more about BioOne’s Subscribe to Open pilot.
About the Max Planck Digital Library The Max Planck Digital Library is a central unit of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (MPG) and supports all researchers of the MPG with expert digital services. One of Europe’s largest research libraries, the MPDL provides easy access to scientific literature, data, commercial software licenses, scientific communication tools and services, and research-relevant software applications. The MPDL has a transformative impact on commercial product development and the scientific publishing market for the benefit of the MPG and science overall. Learn more about the Max Planck Digital Library.
Contact Amanda Rogers, Communications and Engagement Manager, BioOne | Amanda@BioOne.org
Licensing team, Max Planck Digital Library | lic.contact@mpdl.mpg.de
Member News Release submitted by BioOne on 10/31/2025.
