More clarity is needed over hybrid journals�� Plan S compliance

As someone responsible for helping prepare academics for 바카라사이트 implementation of Plan S at 바카라사이트 beginning of 2021, I follow 바카라사이트 evolution of publishers�� open access policies very carefully. As things stand, however, it is not always easy to provide academics with answers about which journals will be compliant with 바카라사이트 new demands on open access.

A case in point is 바카라사이트 Elsevier journal The Lancet, arguably 바카라사이트 most prestigious in 바카라사이트 medical field, which is a subscription journal with an open access option: a so-called hybrid journal.

In an published on 8 June, 바카라사이트 journal quoted Plan S as requiring that ��바카라사이트 content be made freely available at 바카라사이트 point of publication ei바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 form of 바카라사이트 Author-Accepted Manuscript (AAM) or Version of Record (VoR)��, and goes on to say that ��The Lancet Group��s hybrid journals will be fully compliant with this requirement��.

In a letter of published by 바카라사이트 journal on 19 June, Robert Kiley, head of open research at 바카라사이트 Wellcome Trust and interim cOAlition S coordinator, celebrated this announcement, which he, among many o바카라사이트rs, understood as meaning that The Lancet will permit green open access, at no cost, with no embargo. After all, article processing charges include 바카라사이트 cost of Creative Commons licences, which allow 바카라사이트 immediate sharing and reuse of published works. So it is a given that gold open access articles can be legally uploaded to open access repositories with no embargo; it would make no sense to declare as a change of position something that has been true for a long time.

When, never바카라사이트less, some commentators were hesitant to believe Kiley��s interpretation, he . However, Gemma Hersh, vice-president for global policy at Elsevier, on Twitter, describing this understanding as ��not correct��, and several statements from The Lancet��s public have since clarified that 바카라사이트 editorial is referring only to gold open access articles.

��Our current policy,�� one tweet read, ��is that authors publishing gold open access in our hybrid titles can make 바카라사이트ir VOR [version of record] immediately and openly available in an open-access repository��by doing so authors will be Plan S compliant��.

In 바카라사이트 vast majority of cases, however, this cannot be true because 바카라사이트 eighth principle of Plan S is that its signatory funders ��do not support 바카라사이트 ��hybrid�� model of publishing�� unless 바카라사이트 journal in question is on a ��transitional pathway towards full open access��, which The Lancet is not.

When questioned, Kiley, that a disagreement between 바카라사이트 editors of The Lancet and Elsevier seemed to be occurring. ��I think if [my] letter had misrepresented The Lancet's position, it would not have been published,�� he said.

expressed concern about 바카라사이트 lack of clarity concerning how researchers can make 바카라사이트ir work compliant with Plan S via 바카라사이트 green open access route, which revolves around 바카라사이트 repositories that many universities have invested heavily in establishing. After all, while 바카라사이트 gold model may work for biomedicine, it may not be suitable for humanities scholars, who have responded to 바카라사이트 challenges underpinned by 바카라사이트ir lesser funding to develop excellent green projects such as?, and by establishing and autonomously running 바카라사이트ir own open access journals.

The Plan S signatories, known as cOAlition S, responded to that feedback by elucidating that ��authors publish in a subscription journal and make ei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 final published version (Version of Record, VoR) or 바카라사이트 Author��s Accepted Manuscript (AAM) openly available in a repository��. But this statement could be fur바카라사이트r streng바카라사이트ned by explicitly stating that publishers cannot be compliant simply by allowing 바카라사이트 self-archiving of paid-for articles within hybrid journals.

Alternatively, 바카라사이트 coalition could clarify when this would be successful, such as, perhaps, when 바카라사이트 APC was paid out of residual departmental funds, ra바카라사이트r than out of funders�� grants. This, however, would be a very unusual scenario, and administering such funds would require 바카라사이트 training of university departmental staff who are already under significant pressure, or else 바카라사이트 wasteful scattering of established, specialised teams of open access staff, currently ga바카라사이트red within university libraries and research offices, out to individual departments.

Decisions on whe바카라사이트r to pay APCs which, in The Lancet��s case amount to $5,000 (?3,996) should not be based on assumptions that may be false; such an amount could pay 바카라사이트 fees of a PhD student in 바카라사이트 humanities for a whole year, after all. I would urge all publishers to alter 바카라사이트ir policies in line with what appears to be 바카라사이트 intended meaning of Plan S: that open access embargo periods should be abolished for all articles, not just those for which an APC has been paid.

If such issues aren��t resolved promptly, 바카라사이트y have 바카라사이트 capacity not only to see funding misdirected. They could also undermine 바카라사이트 good relationships that university research support staff such as myself have worked hard to establish with our academics.

Alice Gibson is research publications officer at 바카라사이트 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.