STM Publishing – December 2022
Springer Nature acquires Research Square Company
Springer Nature has increased its investment in Research Square Company to take full ownership of both American Journal Experts, provider of digital editing tools, and the multi-disciplinary preprint platform Research Square, completing a process that begin with collaboration between Nature and AJE in 2008, and continued with Springer investing in AJE in 2016, becoming minority owner of Research Square in 2018, and then assuming majority ownership of both AJE and Research Square in 2020.
IEEE commits to transforming hybrid journals
IEEE has committed to converting its entire portfolio of more than 160 hybrid journals to become Plan S-compliant transformative journals, ensuring that all researchers funded by cOAlition S will be compliant with Plan S requirements when publishing in these journals.
New mentoring initiative at Springer
Springer Nature has launched a new mentoring partnership as part of its commitment to the new Generation Valuable initiative, which aims to develop the next generation of leaders with disabilities. The first mentee, Jude Robinson, Global Head of Front End Development, is a key contributor to accessibility at the company, having founded the Accessibility Steering Group and led the team that developed the Pa11y accessibility software. Robinson will meet regularly over the next year with Chief Commercial Officer Carolyn Honour while contributing to a ‘Blueprint for Action’ informing the company’s approach to disability inclusion.
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Particle physics consortium launches open access book pilot with 100 titles
The Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP³), the world’s largest disciplinary open access initiative, has launched a new programme to make books on particle physics – and neighbouring disciplines – available through open access. Publishers including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, and World Scientific will be making more than one hundred monographs and textbooks openly available; sixty are already available via the OAPEN Library SCOAP³ Collection, with more to come. Funding for the pilot programme has been provided by more than a hundred of the institutions forming the consortium.
Transformative and open access agreements
The Public Library of Science (PLOS) has announced a one-year deal with The Universidad Nacional Autonoma Mexico (UNAM) which will enable researchers there to publish in PLOS One and selected other PLOS journals without incurring article processing charges (APCs). Springer Nature has also agreed a dead with the Mexican university, running for the next two years. Affiliated researchers will gain read access to more than 2,300 journals across the Springer, Adis, and Nature portfolios, as well as the opportunity to publish open access in 1900 Springer Nature journals. The deal is expected to result in the publication of 1,000 articles.
Wiley has signed a new three-year transformative open access agreement with Tulane University Libraries, active from 1 January 2023. Researchers affiliated with the New Orleans private research institution will have full access to the publisher’s full portfolio of journals while also being able to publish APC-free in any of almost 2,000 hybrid and open access journals, including those published by Hindawi.
IOP Publishing has agreed a three-year unlimited open publishing agreement with the United States Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) consortium. The deal, which begins at the start of next year, will enable affiliated researchers to publish unlimited numbers of open access papers with having to pay APCs, as well as providing continued access to the IOP Science Extra collection.
SAGE Publishing has struck a three-year deal with the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL), the negotiating body that represents universities in Australia and New Zealand. Beginning on 1 January 2023, the deal will provide affiliated researchers with unlimited open access publishing rights in more than 900 SAGE hybrid journals, a discount on APCS for more than 150 Gold open access journals, and reading rights to the publisher’s journals in the STM, social and behavioural sciences.
Wiley has concluded a three-year agreement with the Portuguese consortium The Biblioteca do Conhecimento Online (b-on), providing researchers at the 64 participating institutions with access to the entirety of the publisher’s subscription content and the ability to publish accepted articles open access in all of Wiley’s hybrid open access journals.
New and acquired journals and platforms
Wiley has launched a new open access journal – Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods – in partnership with Cochrane, the independent global organisation dedicated to producing evidence to inform health and care decision making.
Oxford University Press has partnered with the global health and humanitarian relief organisation Project HOPE to publish a new international open access journal. Health Affairs Scholar will be dedicated to research in health policy and emerging health services, building upon the organisation’s existing subscription journal, Health Affairs.
Springer Nature has acquired the Cureus Journal of Medical Science, which publishes open access peer-reviewed articles by medical professionals without access to research grant funding.
Taylor & Francis has acquired the Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) journal from The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), one of the world’s oldest and largest single life science membership societies. The monthly journal was established in 1981 and will join the publisher’s large portfolio of journals in life sciences and medicine.
F1000 has launched Health Open Research, an expansion of the existing Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) Open Research platform which allowed researchers funded by AMRC member charities to share their work openly and transparently. The expanded platform will be open to all researchers working in health, medicine, and social care, and to health research organisations across the world. It will also host all the articles, review reports, and other outputs previously published on its predecessor.
In brief
Oxford University Press has added Altmetric badges to its book content. Badges already appear on all OUP journals and will now be included on book content following its migration to the Oxford Academic platform.
Cambridge University Press has appointed its first global director for climate education. Christine Ozden took up the role in September having previously served for four years as chief executive of Cambridge Assessment International Education.
Alastair Horne is a lecturer in publishing studies at the University of Stirling.
Alastair writes our STM Publishing and our Academic Publishing Newsletters.