The concept of openness is multifaceted and can be addressed from a wide range of different angles. Here we focus on openness in education, with a particular focus on knowledge production and access. We thus also focus on the academic publishing industry, which is in constant flux and has seen considerable changes in recent years, partly due to rapid technological changes. Ultimately, the discussion is narrowed down to focus on AJET’s approach to openness as an example of open access publishing. The question is raised of how can we grow open access publishing in a higher education sector characterised by increasing budget constraints in order to make access to knowledge as open as possible to as many potential readers as possible.