A recent report from a higher education working group recommending that a consortium of higher education and research institutions only sign agreements to publish in fully open access (OA) journals has been widely welcomed by stakeholders in Sweden and the European region. The ‘Beyond transformative agreements’ working group (the BTA group), convened in 2021 by the Association of Swedish Higher Education, was tasked with proposing a strategy for transitioning from transformative agreements to a financially sustainable system that stimulates the ongoing transition to a fully open publishing system.