Knowledge Unlatched Formed University of Michigan Partnership
The partnership integrates the University of Michigan Press into the open access Fund to Mission initiative.
Updated on Sept. 22, 2026 in Scholarships
Knowledge Unlatched, a division of Annual Reviews, has formalized a new partnership with the University of Michigan Press. This collaboration brings the press into the Fund to Mission initiative, which aims to eliminate publication fees for authors of new academic monographs.
Why it matters
The organizations intend to expand global access to research while reinforcing the infrastructure that supports open scholarship. By leveraging collective funding from libraries, the model aims to ensure sustainable support for academic works.
Since launching five years ago, the Fund to Mission model has supported more than 1,000 authors and generated 12 million uses of its open access books across 240 countries and territories.
The players
Knowledge Unlatched
A division of Annual Reviews that facilitates open access for scholarly publications.
University of Michigan Press
The publishing division of the University of Michigan that focuses on scholarly and academic works.
Lyrasis
A non-profit organization that collaborated with the University of Michigan Press to develop the Fund to Mission model.
The details
Under this model, libraries and institutions invest in the University of Michigan Press Ebook Collection to fund diamond open access for new monographs. Participating libraries gain unlimited multiuser access to the scholarly works published under this initiative.
Timeline
Fund to Mission launched in 2021.
The partnership was formalized in September 2026.
Culture Shift
This partnership accelerates the industry-wide transition toward diamond open access, which seeks to remove financial barriers for both authors and readers. It follows the established trend of replacing traditional paywalls with collective-funded models supported by academic institutions.
This initiative provides students and researchers in Ann Arbor with broader, cost-free access to a growing collection of scholarly monographs. Participating in these programs helps local libraries manage collections while ensuring students have immediate, unlimited access to digital course materials.
The takeaway
Open access models like Fund to Mission are reshaping the economics of academic research by prioritizing global accessibility over pay-per-read publishing. Readers and students should monitor institutional library portals to see if their local collections have adopted these new digital access rights.
Further reading
For more information on current academic funding initiatives, visit the Scholarships section.
