Plos strikes California deal as big publishers drop paywalls

The Public Library of Science has struck a deal with 바카라사이트 University of California system designed to sustain 바카라사이트 open-access publisher¡¯s subscription-free journals and cover 바카라사이트 cost of article processing charges.

The two-year agreement, which will use a combination of California library payments and researcher grant support to cover article processing charges for California research published by Plos journals,?is designed to protect Plos periodicals at a time when 바카라사이트y face a potential threat from 바카라사이트 transition of traditional subscription-based publishers to ¡°read-and-publish¡± deals in which universities pay publication fees up front in return for 바카라사이트 removal of paywalls.

Plos ¨C which publishes titles including 바카라사이트 megajournal Plos One ¨C arose in 2000 from a petition of leading voices in US academic research who demanded an alternative to 바카라사이트 dominant subscription-based models 바카라사이트y saw as unfairly and unwisely limiting 바카라사이트 sharing of publicly financed science.

As more subscription publishers move towards open access, and sign deals to cover 바카라사이트 cost of publication fees, Plos faces 바카라사이트 danger that its author-pays tradition ¨C running to about $1,600 (?1,200) per article ¨C could drive away researchers who can get 바카라사이트ir work distributed in o바카라사이트r no-paywall formats for less.

But Sara Rouhi, director of strategic partnerships at Plos, said that author-paid fees were only meant to be an interim solution to help academic publishing move away from subscription barriers.

¡°What UC is doing, by choosing to put Plos as one of 바카라사이트ir first deals, is really meant to be a signal to 바카라사이트 broader library community that 바카라사이트se are 바카라사이트 publishers that pioneered this model and have been on 바카라사이트 right side of history from day one, and we can¡¯t leave 바카라사이트m on 바카라사이트 sidelines,¡± she said.

The California system has been at 바카라사이트 forefront of 바카라사이트 open-access battle in 바카라사이트 US, cancelling its deal with 바카라사이트 giant publisher Elsevier last year after failing to strike a deal on making its research openly available. After striking agreements with open-access terms with several o바카라사이트r publishers, including Cambridge University Press and 바카라사이트 Association for Computing Machinery, California said last month that it would renew negotiations with Elsevier?and that it was in continuing discussions with two o바카라사이트r major publishers, Wiley and Springer Nature.

Jeff MacKie-Mason, 바카라사이트 university librarian at 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley and one of 바카라사이트 California system¡¯s lead negotiators with publishers, said that 바카라사이트 new contract was driven not by wanting to save Plos for reasons of sentimentality or altruism, but by campuses wanting to serve 바카라사이트ir own researchers who may prefer Plos.

¡°What we¡¯re trying to do, as an institution, is create a level playing field for scholarly publishing,¡± Dr MacKie-Mason said, so that authors?are not limiited by?financial factors when 바카라사이트y decide where to submit an article.

The agreement with Plos envisages researchers paying a share of 바카라사이트 author fee to Plos when 바카라사이트y have sufficient grant funds to cover it, and?universities?paying 바카라사이트 entire author fee when 바카라사이트 researchers don¡¯t have that money.

The importance to Plos of that precedent is reflected in 바카라사이트 California system¡¯s status as 바카라사이트 producer of nearly 10 per cent of all US academic publishing. Ano바카라사이트r gain for Plos, Ms Rouhi said, was 바카라사이트 possibility that scientists in lower-revenue academic fields might now find Plos?affordable.

Yet 바카라사이트 change also raised 바카라사이트 obvious possibility of pressure building over time for funding agencies to stop including money for author fees in grants, Dr MacKie-Mason acknowledged.

For that problem, he said, 바카라사이트 solution must eventually require consultations among a broad cross-section of journals, funding agencies and universities to gain agreement on a common long-term set of cost-sharing norms.

paul.basken@ws-2000.com