Open Science

Your guide to Open Access publishing and Open Science

Category: Open Access Models
Harvard University Science Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, April 1, 2014 | © Courtesy of Gunnar Klack/Flickr.

Researchers from Globally Leading Universities Increasingly Prefer Gold Open Access Journals as Publication Venues

A recent empirical study on the article publication patterns in the scholarly field of global health has found that researchers from high-ranking universities are significantly more likely to opt for Gold Open Access journals than their counterparts from lower-ranking universities. Its findings also demonstrate the growing prestige of diverse Open Access models, such as Green Open Access, despite differences in funding availability. A Blog Article by Pablo Markin. While the merits of different Open Access models continue to be discussed in scholarly literature, such as in the closed-access article by Sarah Cuschieri published on June 2018 in the Elsevier-owned journal […]

Fudan University, Shanghai, China, April 26, 2008 | © Courtesy of Alva Chien/Flickr.

Open Access Journals and Institutional Repositories in Asia Continue to be Underrepresented in International Directories and Rankings

The lacking visibility of Open Access journals and repositories from the Global South, such as Asian countries, in international directories, e.g., DOAJ, can be due to the hurdles for the implementation of best practices they encounter, which limits access to knowledge, while indicating that university, publisher and funder partnerships can contribute to capacity building and academic quality in the journal publishing market around the world. A Blog Article by Pablo Markin. In their scholarly article published on May 31, 2017, Abrizah, Noorhidawati and Kiran have analyzed the presence of Asia-based Open Access institutional repositories in the Open Directory of Open […]

Ensure open access for internet service suppliers and ban roaming fees, say MEPs, European Parliament, Bruxelles/Brussels, Belgique/Belgium, September 10, 2014 | © Courtesy of European Union 2014/European Parliament/Flickr.

The Intention of the Plan S to Cap Article Processing Charges and Favour Gold Open Access Meets with Industry Criticism

Though the Plan S of European research funding organizations intends to promote Open Access and make it a default publication option by 2020, it has elicited critical responses from publishing industry representatives and European scientists concerned about the negative effects its rigid guidelines may have on the journal publishing market. A Blog Article by Pablo Markin. Though in a press interview, Carsten Buhr, De Gruyter’s Managing Director, has welcomed this Open Access initiative of the cOAlition of European Union-wide and country-level science funding bodies, he has also pleaded for flexibility as concerns the recommended level of article processing charges (APCs). […]

The Globe of Science and Innovation, CERN, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, July 6, 2017 | © Courtesy of Tim Hughes /Flickr.

The European Plan S Can Speed Up the Gradual Progress of Open Access, Despite Divided Opinions on its Effectiveness

Whereas the latest Scopus data show a significant increase in the number of scholarly articles published in Gold Open Access in the last decade, the promises to revolutionize the scientific journal publishing that the Plan S of European research foundations apparently makes also meet with skepticism as to whether it can reach its goals on time. A Blog Article by Pablo Markin. A recent European Commission (EC) report on Open Access trends, based on information from the Scopus database, has indicated that between 2009 and 2016 the share of scientific articles published in Gold Open Access has almost tripled from […]

Francis Crick Institute, Midland Road, London, UK, November 26, 2016 | © Courtesy of Elliott Brown/Flickr.

European Science Funding Agencies Form a Coalition for the Promotion of Gold Open Access in Journal Publishing

On September 4, 2018, the European Commission and 11 European research funding organizations have created a cOAlition or Plan S initiative, as part of their intent to use their spending power to ensure that by 2020 all articles they support financially are immediately accessible via Gold Open Access upon publication. A Blog Article by Pablo Markin. The national research funding agencies comprising the cOAlition S are the Austrian Science Fund, French National Research Agency, Irish Science Foundation, Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Luxembourgish National Research Fund, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Norwegian Research Council, Polish National Science Centre, Slovenian […]

Northwest Corner of Bright Lake, Century Park, Shanghai, China, May 6, 2009 | © Courtesy of Jonathan/Flickr.

Despite New Journals Being Launched, the Viability and Effectiveness of Open Access Models Remain in Question

Whereas the American Association for the Advancement of Science enters into partnerships with Chinese research organizations and universities to launch peer-reviewed Open Access mega-journals, the economic foundations of the Open Access models for book publishing and the public benefit from funding preprint servers continue to be uncertain. A Blog Article by Pablo Markin. As the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a non-profit journal publisher, has been seeking to diversify its revenue sources beyond paywalls to its scientific journals, such as Science, experimental metered access to its magazine-related news website, and Green Open Access to its journal archives, […]