The SciELO Program was created in the late 1990s when the idea of free access to scholarly content began to gain momentum, even before the term "open access" had been coined. At that time, access to academic publications was limited and costly, restricted to university libraries and the collections they subscribed to. With the emergence of the World Wide Web, electronic access to academic information became practically possible, allowing for wider and faster dissemination of scientific publications. However, the restricted access publishing system still dominated. In this book, the origins and evolution of the open access movement are explored from the perspective of individuals who actively participated. These pioneers of open access shared their experiences, successes, collaborations, and visions for the future on the occasion of SciELO's 25th anniversary. The book pays tribute to their pioneering efforts and the crucial role played by SciELO in supporting open access and spotlighting regions of the world that were previously underrepresented in global academic communication. This celebration demonstrates how SciELO firmly placed these regions on the map of global academic communication and contributed to strengthening the open access movement throughout its successful journey.