As the Microbiology Society’s founding journal, Microbiology, begins its milestone 75th year, the Council of the Microbiology Society is delighted to announce that Microbiology will be the first in the Society’s journal portfolio to transition from a hybrid model to fully Open Access. The transition to Gold Open Access will happen in 2023 and follows two years of unprecedented growth in the proportion of Open Access articles published in the journal, particularly following the introduction of a new Publish and Read licence in 2020.