In response to the editorial “Open access and academic imperialism” by Burgman (2018) and signed by a large group of editors, we wish to express our disappointment with such a narrow and misleading interpretations of the recent attempts to make academic publishing more open, and what consequences this might have for the global conservation community. We highlight that the current guidelines of Plan S are open for comment until Feb 1st 2019 (see https://www.coalition-s.org/feedback). Instead of calling for a more nuanced approach – something that has been done for the past 20 years – we encourage everyone to actively participate in factoring in the nuances.