cOAlition S issues transformative journal framework
cOAlition S has issued an addendum to its Plan S implementation guidance in the form of a draft framework for transformative journals, defined as journals clearly committed to transitioning to full and immediate open access which are gradually increasing their share of open access content and offsetting subscription income from payments for publishing services.
Among the mandatory criteria for a journal to qualify as transformative, it must increase its percentage of OA content by eight percentage points annually before converting to full OA either when that percentage reaches 50%, or by an agreed date before the end of 2024. In doing so, it must not increase its overall costs during the transition process but instead ensure ‘cost-neutrality’.
Publishers of journals wishing to have them acknowledged as transformative by cOAlition S must also publicly announce their commitment to transition not only all the journals they own, but also the maximum possible number of journals they publish. Publishers must also demonstrate transparent pricing, breaking down prices by services, and demonstrate that there has been no double-dipping. They will be expected to provide an annual public report to cOAlition S measuring progress, demonstrating compliance with its requirements, and comparing the usage, citations and cost per download of OA and subscription content.
cOAlition S is now seeking stakeholder input on the draft framework by 6 January 2020 before the final version is published in March.
Three new deals for Jisc
Jisc has concluded three new open access deals. A two-year read-and-publish deal with IWA Publishing will see article processing charges waived for all corresponding authors associated with participating institutions, and full access to all IWA journals. A three-year deal with open access publisher Frontiers will give organisations access to its range of open science tools and a discount on publishing charges, while a pilot transitional deal with the Company of Biologists will offer read access to all three of the society’s subscription journals alongside OA publication for corresponding authors at participating institutions.
Appointments
HighWire has appointed Tim Bacci as its new president and CEO. Bacci most recently served as President and CEO of software and information services company Daegis and has more than twenty-five years of experience in technology companies.
Danielle McMahan has been named as the new Chief People Officer at Wiley.
Partnerships
Scholarly publishing workflow technology solutions supplier Aries Systems has partnered with content creation and enhancement developer Aptara to integrate the latter’s SciPris payment processing portal into the former’s manuscript submission and peer review tracking system Editorial Manager, from next year.
Journal publishers with Crossref membership using Scholastica’s open access publishing platform can now automate DOI registration and the creation of machine-readable metadata deposits, the company has announced.
Springer Nature is collaborating with SeamlessAccess.org to improve the experience of users of nature.com when accessing the site from beyond their institutional network. The move will see users from participating institutions only having to log in once per browser.
Editage has announced a partnership with the British Blockchain Association that will see its editing, formatting, and translation services made available to authors submitting to the association’s journal.
Acquisitions
On the eve of its centenary, French STEM books and journal publisher EDP Sciences has been purchased by China’s Science Press, three-quarters owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the world’s largest research organisation.
Alastair Horne is a PhD student at the British Library and Bath Spa University.