Science journals to offer select authors open-access publishing for free:
AAAS[*], which publishes the Science family of journals, announced today it will offer its authors a free way to comply with a mandate issued by some funders that publications resulting from research they fund be immediately free to read. Under the new open-access policy, authors may deposit near-final, peer-reviewed versions of papers accepted by paywalled Science titles in publicly accessible online repositories.
For now, Science's approach, known as green open access, will only apply to authors of papers funded by Coalition S, a group of mostly European funders and foundations behind an open-access mandate that takes effect this month. The funders say immediate access will accelerate scientific discovery by disseminating new findings faster. Up to 31% of research papers in the flagship journal Science and four other Science titles have cited funding from Coalition S, said Bill Moran, the journals' publisher. Until now, these papers had been available immediately only to journal subscribers, although the paywalled Science journals do make all papers free 12 months after publication.
Articles made public under the new policy will carry an open-access license, and authors will retain copyright, another of Coalition S's conditions.
AAAS said it will pilot the new policy for 1 year, allowing it to judge whether the policy causes revenues to suffer.
[*] AAAS: American Association for the Advancement of Science
Also at: Nature
Previously: A New Mandate Highlights Costs, Benefits of Making All Scientific Articles Free to Read
Related Stories
A new mandate highlights costs, benefits of making all scientific articles free to read:
In 2018, a group of mostly European funders sent shock waves through the world of scientific publishing by proposing an unprecedented rule: The scientists they funded would be required to make journal articles developed with their support immediately free to read when published.
The new requirement, which takes effect starting this month, seeks to upend decades of tradition in scientific publishing, whereby scientists publish their research in journals for free and publishers make money by charging universities and other institutions for subscriptions. Advocates of the new scheme, called Plan S (the “S” stands for the intended “shock” to the status quo), hope to destroy subscription paywalls and speed scientific progress by allowing findings to be shared more freely. It’s part of a larger shift in scientific communication that began more than 20 years ago and has recently picked up steam.
Scientists have several ways to comply with Plan S, including by paying publishers a fee to make an article freely available on a journal website, or depositing the article in a free public repository where anyone can download it. The mandate is the first by an international coalition of funders, which now includes 17 agencies and six foundations, including the Wellcome Trust and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, two of the world’s largest funders of biomedical research.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday January 16 2021, @08:37PM (4 children)
What a crap, minimalistic attitude they have. Instead of taking the lead on updating publishing to align with the power and reality of the digital age, these publishers are being dragged out of the past, kicking and screaming. One might expect an ordinary, old entrenched industry to fight progress, but these are in the business of progress, scientific progress.
They "believe in empowering authors with choice". Choice? Choice?!? Let me tell you about "choice". It's a red herring. It's an attempt to stroke egos. It is suggestive of the narrative these publishers have been promoting for decades, which is that Authors Control Everything, as if they have the right to dictate what others shall make of and do with the findings they publish.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 16 2021, @10:10PM (1 child)
On the plus side - they are yielding to pressure. Not especially gracefully, but they are giving under pressure. Keep the pressure on them, is about all that can be done.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 17 2021, @07:50PM
It's taken me years to grasp the essentials of the situation, and there's still nuances and details to iron out. So I can understand society still struggling with these questions. Nevertheless, I had hopes for a quicker resolution. But now I think it'll be at least another century to end copyright and patent monopolies as we know them, and their stranglehold on science and culture. It's loosening, and the change may yet come sooner and more suddenly.
Also, one of the saddest things about the situation is that the US, in the latter 20th century the undisputed leader in all kinds of good things, such as education, science, research, and even governance, seems no longer quite as interested in exploration and discovery. Not that I'm a nationalist, or begrudge others their findings and advances. We all eventually benefit. Knowledge has no respect for national borders. But this push is coming more from Europe, while the US is moving in the opposite direction, pandering to anti-intellectual trolls, enacting stupid and damaging policy in defiance of all reason, and bribed by the likes of Disney so they can continue to hoard and peddle their crappy, propagandistic medieval romancing fantasy pablum, and the devil with what that does to discovery.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 17 2021, @11:30AM (1 child)
Oh, another science hating Trump supporter.
AAAS is a private company, guys.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 17 2021, @06:40PM
Love the science, doubt the privatization.
(Score: 0) by TomTheFighter on Monday January 18 2021, @08:44PM
>likes of Disney so they can continue to hoard and peddle their crappy, propagandistic medieval romancing fantasy pablum, and the devil with what that does to discovery.
You wouldn't by any chance live in Orlando would you ?