Open Access has scaled rapidly. Now DOAJ is signalling that governance, trust, and accountability must scale with it. When I read the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) 2026–2028 strategy, my first reaction wasn’t that this was just another roadmap. It felt more like a course correction for the entire open-access ecosystem. For years, Open Access has grown fast—sometimes faster than its governance. DOAJ’s new strategy signals a clear shift: open access is no longer just about openness. It’s about trust, accountability, equity, and structural maturity. Here’s what this strategy really means, viewed through the lenses of the people who actually make scholarly publishing work. What This Means for Authors For authors, this is quietly