Collective action is predicated on the assumption that entities that work together as a group – or collective – can achieve outcomes more effectively than working individually. Collective action, an economic, political, and sociological concept was enshrined in the work of Mancur Olson in his book The Logic of Collective Action. Common examples of “collectives” include condominium cooperatives, farm cooperatives, unions, academic library consortia, some forms of insurance and many more. In the case of PLOS Medicine, PLOS Biology, and PLOS Sustainability & Transformation, the community goal is to cover the costs of the journals (plus a 10% capped margin) by equitably distributing cost, rather than have individual authors pay the high APCs required to cover the cost highly selective publishing. Members of the collective receive the “private benefit” of publishing in both journals with no fees. Authors from non-member institutions are subject to “non-member fees” which increase considerably year-on-year to encourage participation in the collective. With the PLOS CAP model, any revenue above the targets is redistributed to community members at renewal.