The Transition to Open Access in Scholarly Publishing
On 14 November 2022, the International Science Council(ISC) held a meeting to open discussions on transitioning to Open Access (OA) in scholarly publishing. This meeting was originally for ISC members and affiliates, and the WDS is pleased to share this recap with our members.
Here are some highlights of the event:
Geoffrey Boulton, Chair of the ISC’s project on the future of scientific publishing and member of the ISC Governing Board, called openness the “best disinfectant” because external scrutiny is good for the rigor of science.
Malavika Legge, Program Manager for the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), outlined how OASPA and the Society Publishers’ Coalition (SocPC) are helping their members transition to open access. Legge detailed the range for transformative/transitional agreements and other OA models, and briefly listed policies from funders and regions, including Plan S, UKRI OA policy, and the Nelson Memo for transformative/transitional agreements and other OA models, and Legge briefly listed the range of policies from funders and regions, including Plan S, UKRI OA policy, and the Nelson Memo. Regarding policy, Legge states: “Scholarship and knowledge sit beyond national borders…you can use the policy landscape as a lever and a foothold to accelerate your transition pathway.”
Alicia Wise, Director of Information Power, shared the Open Access toolkit to foster OA agreements. The toolkit includes the principles of OA, a data template, example licenses, and workflow with impacts on internal and external stakeholders.
Rod Cookson, Managing Director of the International Water Association (IWA) Publishing, detailed the outcomes when IWA flipped their journals to OA with a subscribe to open (S2O) policy. In the most recent author survey, Cookson outlined that authors cite OA as the second highest reason that they submitted to IWA for publication. Usage increased by 109% and citations are up 46% after the switch to open access.
Peter Strickland, Executive Managing Editor of the International Union of Crystallography (WDS Member), stated that IUCR currently uses a mixed model including six hybrid journals with transformative agreements with a commercial publisher and three OA journals. Strickland stated that OA is the way forward to increased citation and usage, greater public engagement, and faster impact.
Finally, Sara Bosshart, Head of Open Access Journals for the Royal Society of Chemistry, announced that within five years all their journals will move to open access. The announcement declares their commitment to open access.
How can you be part of the discussion?
1. We encourage you to take a look at some of these resources for open access in publishing:
UKRI OA Policy: https://www.ukri.org/publications/ukri-open-access-policy/
Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association: https://oaspa.org/
ESAC Community Market Watch: https://esac-initiative.org/market-watch/
Society Publishers Accelerating OA and Plan S (SPA OPS): https://www.informationpower.co.uk/spa-ops-project/
SPA OPS 3.0 Toolkit to foster Open Access Agreements for Smaller Independent Publishers: https://zenodo.org/record/6502325#.Y3KeoHbMK02
2. Send us your suggestions for resources related to transitioning to open access!
3. Open access transitions need to take place in the context of the journal, the organization, the discipline, the institution, and the policies of the host country. If you want to keep the conversation going, please let us know how your organization is managing the transition to open access. We would love to feature your story in an upcoming newsletter.
WDS at AGU
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) will hold its coveted fall meeting in Chicago, Illinois, from 12 to 16 December 2022.
More keynotes have been announced!
See this link for updated schedule
Click this link for more info
Meredith Goins, Executive Director of the WDS International Program Office, will be presenting. Meredith will also be meeting and conversing with WDS members. See schedule below to arrange a meeting:
https://calendly.com/mgoins2/agu-meetup
ICSTI Annual Conference
The International Council for Scientific and Technical Information will hold a conference to include workshops for non-members
ICSTI will hold its annual conference on Thursday, 1 December 2022.
The theme is Global progress in Open Science implementation. The conference will comprise of four sessions:
- Two workshop sessions: The workshops will feature presentations around the conference theme from invited speakers as well as time for questions and discussion. The workshop sessions are open to non-members and free to attend.
- Member-to-member session: ICSTI members will share updates on recent and in-progress projects. The member-to-member session is free to attend for anyone affiliated with an ICSTI member, associate, or partner organization.
- General Assembly business meeting: This is a closed annual meeting for ICSTI member, associate, and partner representatives only. ICSTI representatives and their alternates will receive an invitation to register for this meeting via email.
ARM Facility Call is Open
Climate scientists, propose to deploy an Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Mobile Facility (AMF) by 19 December 2022
The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility is a multi-laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) scientific user facility, and a key contributor to national and international climate research efforts.
DOE is now accepting preliminary proposals from scientists worldwide to deploy an ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) for field campaigns to support the Office of Science’s Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program’s interests in the science of urban regions and their interactions with the climate system.
An AMF will tentatively be available for deployments starting September 1, 2024. Proposed deployments must be within the United States or one of its territories.
Submit preproposals online through the field campaign preproposal form. Before submitting, please read the ARM Field Campaign Guidelines for an overview of processes and requirements.
Preproposals are due 19 December, 2022.
Deployment of an ARM Mobile Facility, ARM Aerial Facility, or complex campaign at a fixed site will be accepted and reviewed once per year. Note: ARM’s crewed and uncrewed aircraft capabilities may NOT be requested as part of this solicitation.