AAS goes open access
The entire journal portfolio of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), published by IOP Publishing (IOPP), will operate on a Gold Open Access model from 1 January 2022, with the Astronomical Journal (AJ), the Astrophysical Journal (ApJ), Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL), and the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (ApJS) all joining the already open access Planetary Science Journal, launched earlier this year.
Karger commits to transformation
Karger has committed seven of its hybrid journals, including Sexual Development and European Addiction Research, to the transformative model required by cOAlition S, committing them to fostering open access and increasing the number of primary research articles they publish, with the ultimate aim of becoming fully open access titles. The Swiss publisher has also partnered with Copenhagen-based platform ChronosHub to provide a simplified user experience for authors and institutional customers that will support a range of open access business models.
De Gruyter and 67 Bricks extend partnership
Oxford-based software development consultancy 67 Bricks has announced a multi-year expansion of its partnership with De Gruyter. The new agreement follows the successful launch earlier this year of De Gruyter’s new digital research platform, built by 67 Bricks, and will see the developer deliver a new digital strategy for the German publisher.
Transformative deals
The American Chemical Society (ACS) has concluded a read-and-publish agreement with the University of Iowa, providing access to the complete suite of ACS Publications journals for all students and researchers, and offering financial support for researchers to publish open access in any of the society’s gold or hybrid journals.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has signed a three-year deal with Finnish university and library consortium FinELib to provide participating members with open access publishing rights in IEEE’s hybrid and fully OA journals with a CC-BY licence and read access to more than 4.8 million articles and conference papers.
In brief
Digital Science has launched a new version of its Dimensions platform focusing on life sciences and chemistry research activities. Dimensions Life Sciences & Chemistry analyses more than 120 million scientific publications alongside millions of patents, grants, and clinical trial documents, applying semantic text analysis tools and ontologies to provide discovery functionality.
The theme for this year’s Open Access Week, running from 25-31 October, will be “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity”; the theme aligns with the recently released UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, which centres the importance of equity in pursuing a future for scholarship that is open by default.
F1000 has introduced a new type of article to its F1000Research collection: Policy Briefs will be short and jargon-free and will aim to influence policymakers across a range of areas.
Springer Nature has become the latest publisher to sign the Joint Commitment for Action on Inclusion and Diversity in Publishing, launched by the Royal Society for Chemistry in June last year.
From January 2022, Wiley will publish the Journal of Hospital Medicine and the news magazine The Hospitalist for the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), and also partner with the society to develop and manage its new career centre.
Oxford University Press has launched new branding aimed at supporting its continuing transformation into a digital-first business. CEO Nigel Portwood said that the new brand ‘signals how we are reimagining our role, and our intent to continue to evolve in the future, to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers and communities.
Alastair Horne is a PhD student at the British Library and Bath Spa University.