Breaking down the paywalls of knowledge and transforming scientific publishing through open access
Imagine a world where a brilliant medical discovery remains locked behind a publisher's paywall, inaccessible to the researchers who could build upon it or the patients whose lives it might save. For decades, this was the reality of scientific publishing—a system where universities and institutions paid staggering subscription fees while the public, who often funded the research through taxes, found themselves barred from accessing the results.
The open access (OA) movement emerged as a powerful challenge to this model, advocating for science that is freely available to anyone with an internet connection. At the forefront of this revolution stands a remarkable success story: IntechOpen, which grew from a simple idea among scientists into the world's largest open access book publisher in science, technology, and medicine, demonstrating that when knowledge circulates freely, everyone benefits.
Open access represents a fundamental shift in how scientific knowledge is shared and disseminated. Unlike traditional publishing models that restrict access through paywalls and subscriptions, OA makes research available freely online for anyone to read, download, copy, distribute, or otherwise use without financial, legal, or technical barriers.
This approach accelerates the pace of scientific discovery by allowing researchers everywhere—from well-funded American or European laboratories to struggling universities in developing nations—to build upon existing work without delay. The benefits are profound: studies have shown that OA articles tend to receive more citations and have broader impact, while also fulfilling the ethical imperative that publicly-funded research should be accessible to the public that paid for it.
Internet enables free distribution of scientific content for the first time
Budapest Open Access Initiative establishes core OA principles
Bethesda Statement and Berlin Declaration further define OA publishing
IntechOpen founded by scientists seeking better publishing model
IntechOpen's story begins not in a corporate boardroom, but in a research laboratory. Founded in 2005 by a group of scientists who wanted to make academic publishing more relevant for the digital age, the organization published its first open access book with a simple belief: scientific progress is generated by collaboration and should be openly shared across the world for the benefit of all 3 .
What started as an experimental approach quickly demonstrated its value, growing exponentially to become the world's leading OA book publisher specializing in science, technology, and medicine.
IntechOpen's model was revolutionary from the start. While traditional publishers focused on maintaining control through copyright restrictions, IntechOpen took the opposite approach—authors retained copyright to their own works 1 , and all published content was permanently available online, free to download, share, and read 2 . This author-centric philosophy, combined with a streamlined peer-review process that could take manuscripts from submission to publication in as little as three months 2 , proved powerfully attractive to researchers tired of the slow, restrictive traditional publishing system.
IntechOpen's growth statistics tell a compelling story about the hunger for accessible scientific knowledge. From its humble beginnings in 2005, the publisher has expanded to offer more than 7,700 peer-reviewed open access books across four scientific fields: Physical Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Life Sciences, Health Sciences, and Social Sciences and Humanities 1 .
These publications contain over 86,169 open access chapters 1 that have been downloaded a staggering 495 million times 1 —a number that grows by one chapter every two seconds worldwide 1 .
A common early criticism of open access publishing centered on questions of quality and prestige. IntechOpen addressed these concerns head-on by implementing a rigorous peer-review system 2 and attracting contributions from globally recognized scientists. The publisher's impressive roster includes works featuring chapters by numerous Nobel laureates.
The growth of open access publishing represents one of the most significant transformations in academic communication in centuries. But beyond the philosophical arguments, what does the data actually show about its impact?
| IntechOpen's Open Access Book Impact (2005-2025) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Metric Category | Specific Measure | Impact Value |
| Publication Output | Total OA Books Published | 7,700+ 1 |
| Total OA Chapters Available | 86,169 1 | |
| Scientific Fields Covered | 4 1 | |
| Research Impact | Total Citations (Dimensions) | 495,727 1 |
| Web of Science Citations | 44,000+ 6 | |
| Most Cited Book ("Infrared Spectroscopy") | 1,945 citations 1 | |
| Global Reach | Monthly Unique Readers | 570,000 7 |
| Total Chapter Downloads | 495 million+ 1 | |
| Most Downloaded Chapter | 167,330 downloads 7 | |
| IntechOpen's Most Cited Open Access Books | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Book Title | Publication Year | Citation Count | Scientific Field |
| Infrared Spectroscopy | 2012 | 1,945 1 | Physical Sciences |
| Heavy Metals | 2018 | 1,414 1 | Environmental Science |
| Effective and Sustainable Hydraulic Fracturing | 2013 | 1,336 1 | Engineering |
| Abiotic Stress in Plants | 2011 | 1,222 1 | Plant Science |
| Application of Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery | 2014 | 1,206 1 | Nanomedicine |
The remarkable success of open access publishers like IntechOpen didn't happen by accident. It required developing new approaches, technologies, and business models that could support high-quality publishing while keeping content free for readers.
Unlike traditional publishing that charges readers or institutions for access, OA typically shifts funding to the production side. Most OA publishers cover costs through APCs—fees paid by authors or their institutions to make the work openly available.
Recognizing that not all researchers have equal access to funds, IntechOpen developed robust funding support services, helping connect authors with potential funding sources. Their efforts have been remarkably successful—approximately 73% of all APCs are paid by authors' institutions or funding agencies 6 .
Permanent accessibility is essential for OA to fulfill its mission. IntechOpen ensures long-term preservation through partnerships with organizations like the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) and OAPEN 1 .
Additionally, inclusion in major indexing services like the Web of Science™ Book Citation Index (with over 43% of all OA books indexed in BKCI coming from IntechOpen 6 ) ensures that OA publications remain discoverable and citable indefinitely.
Modern OA publishers have moved beyond simply replicating print books in digital form. IntechOpen offers researchers multiple publishing options including edited volumes, monographs, compacts, and conference proceedings 1 .
Their more recent introduction of book series 2 provides dedicated publishing venues for fast-moving research fields, with always-open submission systems that accommodate the rapid pace of contemporary science.
To counter early criticisms about quality, successful OA publishers implemented robust peer-review systems comparable to traditional publishers.
IntechOpen's process involves initial editorial screening followed by expert peer review 2 , ensuring all published work meets high scientific standards while maintaining an efficient timeline of approximately three months from submission to publication 2 .
The success of open access book publishing represents just one front in the broader movement toward open science. As technology enables new forms of collaboration and dissemination, OA publishers have expanded their missions accordingly. In 2022, IntechOpen launched a portfolio of Open Science journals covering rapidly expanding interdisciplinary areas at the cutting edge of technology, environmental sciences, and human health.
This expansion reflects evolving researcher needs and embraces the full spectrum of open science practices—including direct links to preprint servers and data repositories, allowing full reproducibility and rapid dissemination of published papers .
The future of open access publishing will likely involve even more profound transformations. Technologies like artificial intelligence could further streamline peer review and personalization of content delivery. Blockchain technology might create new systems for tracking contributions and attributing credit. The increasing emphasis on data sharing and reproducibility may lead to more integrated publications that combine traditional articles with underlying datasets, code, and methodologies.
The open access revolution represents one of the most significant transformations in how knowledge is shared since the invention of the printing press. By dismantling financial and legal barriers to scientific research, OA has demonstrated the power of inclusive, collaborative approaches to accelerating discovery.
IntechOpen's journey from a small startup founded by scientists to the world's leading OA book publisher illustrates both the viability and vitality of this model—proving that when knowledge is set free, everyone benefits.
As the open science movement continues to evolve, its principles of transparency, accessibility, and collaboration offer a template for a more efficient and equitable scientific ecosystem. The remarkable growth statistics—millions of downloads, hundreds of thousands of authors, and ever-increasing citation counts—tell an unambiguous story: the scientific community has embraced open access not just as an idealistic alternative, but as a practical superior approach for the digital age.