Publishers set collection fees based on purchasing history, and what libraries are investing today, drawing on data provided by JSTOR. Fees are not based on the list price of the titles in the collection. Purchasing history data reflects that about 26% of titles were purchased on JSTOR at the time 2026 fees were established. Publishers are also encouraged to consider purchases made on other platforms. Using this data, publishers work collaboratively with JSTOR to establish collection fees that support broader access across a wide range of participating libraries globally, tiered by JSTOR classification.

Acquiring a publisher collection provides:

• A perpetual license to a publisher’s current year titles (frontlist), with savings on current year publication titles fees (overall average 53%+ lower cost for current-year titles).
• Seamless access to all of a publisher’s prior year titles (backlist) on JSTOR for the calendar year, while current year titles are being acquired. 

The model includes an equitable, tiered fee structure based on an institution’s JSTOR classification, and is designed to streamline distribution, simplify acquisition for institutions of all sizes, and increase global discovery of trusted scholarly books worldwide.

Yes, consortia savings are available for Publisher Collections annual fees. Please contact your consortia coordinator for more information. Coordinators or administrators may contact their JSTOR representative to learn more about how we work with consortia and savings that may be available to members.

• A perpetual JSTOR license to current year title (frontlist) sets from a publisher
• Access to all of the publishers’ backlist titles on JSTOR for the calendar year for active participants
• An equitable, tiered fee structure based on an institution’s JSTOR classification

Built in collaboration with publishers and librarians, Publisher Collections offer a sustainable, equitable model for broadening access to publishers’ full list on JSTOR. The model provides a perpetual JSTOR license to current-year titles, seamless access to backlist titles during participation, and a tiered fee structure based on JSTOR classification—streamlining distribution, simplifying acquisition for institutions of all sizes, and increasing global discovery of trusted scholarly books worldwide.

The Publisher Collections frontlist includes all scholarly current year ebook titles that participating publishers have published, or will publish, in the current year for the academic market. 

The Publisher Collections backlist includes all ebooks titles that participating publishers have published on JSTOR prior to the current year’s publications. Some publishers may add additional backlist titles to JSTOR. To ensure the full backlist is available for each publisher’s collection, publishers may fill gaps where needed. For example, a publisher may include titles that were previously exclusive to their own digital collections and are available on JSTOR for the first time. 

Yes, more publishers will join the Publisher Collections program for 2027 and future years; no additional publishers will be added for 2026. Please contact us if there are publishers you would like to see in the program. Our goal is to release new publishers to the program around six months prior to the new calendar year to allow sufficient time for libraries to build collections into their annual budgets.

Access to all prior year titles beyond the most current publication year is active for as long as an institution pays the annual fee for a publisher collection. This will include all titles that may have already been acquired on other platforms. If an institution stops paying annual fees for the publisher’s collection, access to all prior publication year titles beyond the most current year is terminated for any title not already acquired on JSTOR.

Access to the backlist is for the calendar year, rather than for 12 months from the order start date. Backlist access is an added benefit of acquiring perpetual access to current year titles. By offering a perpetual license to current publication year titles plus access to all earlier titles on the JSTOR platform while participating, Publisher Collections enables libraries to simplify acquisitions, reduce duplication, and lower operational overhead, all while addressing user demand for full-run collections.

Frontlist titles (current publication year): Not every frontlist book will have an EPUB component that is provided by the publisher. Publishers must provide JSTOR with either an accessible PDF or a PDF + accessible EPUB for newly published content. EPUB and accessible PDF formatted titles include full book download capabilities. Non-EPUB and non-accessible PDF formatted titles include chapter level downloads, so downloading the entire book must be done chapter-by-chapter.

Backlist titles: The EU Accessibility Act (EAA) does not require the immediate remediation of publishers’ backlist. If accessible files and metadata are available for any titles in a publisher’s backlist catalog, we’ve asked publishers to provide them, meaning some backlist titles include an EPUB where provided by the publisher.

At JSTOR, we believe accessibility is fundamental to access. We are committed to designing and improving our platform so that scholarship can be discovered, read, and used by everyone. Our Accessibility at JSTOR page details our principles and process, and provides a central spot for updates and resources regarding our accessibility efforts.

EPUB and accessible PDF titles: If an accessible copy is requested, a library can send the entire EPUB or accessible PDF via ILL.

PDF titles: Libraries can ILL individual chapters from these books. If you wish to borrow the entire book, you must do an ILL request for every single chapter. However, if a library ILL requests an accessible version of a book and the only accessible version is a full book PDF, then JSTOR can provide the entire book PDF, rather than each chapter. In addition, if an EPUB version of the book is available as the accessible version of a title, a library can send the entire EPUB instead.

A publisher’s current year titles in Publisher Collections will include all of the publisher’s books available on JSTOR for that publication year. This includes open access and Path to Open titles with that publication year. 

For example, if a library participates in a university press’s 2026 Publisher Collection, they will get all of that press’s Path to Open titles that are already open, plus the press’s titles that are published to Path to Open in 2026 but not yet open. If the library does not renew the press’s Publisher Collection in 2027, they will still have access to the press’s titles that were published to Path to Open in 2026, until the titles become open access.

Yes. Publisher Collections are available directly with JSTOR, along with our GOBI Library Solutions/Mosaic partners and select local subscription agents.

Yes, like other ebooks on JSTOR, Publisher Collections are available through EBSCO discovery services and Clarivate’s OASIS platform.

JSTOR works with OCLC to provide free, high-quality MARC records for titles available in the Books at JSTOR program, including Publisher Collections. GOBI Library Solutions/Mosaic also provides MARC records support for Publisher Collections via a suite of paid services options available for libraries across all Books at JSTOR programs.

Participating publishers have demonstrated a strong commitment to open access (OA), and library participation in their collections helps these presses grow their OA publishing programs. Every publisher participating in Publisher Collections for 2026 offers OA titles on JSTOR—an average of 79 tiles per press—and continues to expand OA publishing as resources allow. Together, these presses have made over 1,600 titles openly available on JSTOR. Of the 1,400 new titles published in 2024, 215 (15%) were released as immediate OA or delayed OA through Path to Open. 

JSTOR will also host all OA titles from each publisher in the program at no cost and support all preservation and discovery of these titles.

Any titles in Publisher Collections that are not open access, not in Path to Open, and not restricted by the publisher to only the Publisher Collections model, are available for acquisition through other Books at JSTOR acquisition options. If they choose, publishers may make certain titles available exclusively through a Publisher Collection and can exclude them from acquisition as individual titles through other Books at JSTOR models.

Backfile titles from the Publisher Collections in which an institution actively participates will be removed from the institution’s EBA corpus. Duplicate-checking rules will also prevent the participant from purchasing those titles through individual title, subject package, or Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA).

Current publication year titles from the Publisher Collections in which an institution actively participates will be removed from the institution’s DDA corpus. Publisher Collections titles usage won’t count towards DDA usage; the usage by default will go to Publisher Collections.

Frontlist Path to Open titles: Yes. A publisher’s current year titles in Publisher Collections will include all of the publisher’s books available on JSTOR from that publication year, including open access and Path to Open titles from that year. For example, if a library participates in a press’s 2026 Publisher Collection, they will get all of that press’s Path to Open titles that are already open, plus the press’s titles that are published to Path to Open in 2026 but not yet open. If the library does not renew the press’s Publisher Collection for 2027, they will still have access to the press’s titles that were published to Path to Open in 2026, until the titles become open access.

Backlist Path to Open titles: Yes. A publisher’s backlist titles in Publisher Collections will include  Path to Open titles published prior to the current year and which are not yet open. For example, if a library participates in a press’s 2026 Publisher Collection, they will have access to the press’s titles published to Path to Open in 2024 and 2025 which are not yet open. If the library does not renew the press’s Publisher Collection for 2027, they will no longer have access to the press’s Path to Open titles published in 2025; the press’s titles published to Path to Open in 2024 will flip to open access in 2027.