Cambridge University Press issues public statement on Plan S

Cambridge University Press has issued a response to Plan S – a recent announcement from a coalition of 12 national research funders across Europe, committing to dramatically accelerate the transition to Open Access.

It calls for all research papers that result from public funding to be published Open Access by 2020. In addition, it rules out publishing in hybrid journals, which collect subscriptions but allow some papers to be published openly for a fee.

The plan has been developed by Science Europe and Robert-Jan Smits, Senior Advisor on Open Access within the European Political Strategy Centre at the European Commission.

The Press’s statement:

Cambridge University Press exists to advance knowledge, learning and research. As part of our purpose, we disseminate high-quality research and drive its impact and reach, working with the academic communities we support. We fully endorse the benefits of open research and recognize the recent announcements about Plan S as an important contribution to the conversation about the ongoing transition.

There is a wide range of views about how to move forward with open research across different parts of the global academic community, which means the debate about how it should develop needs a process of wide consultation, as happened with the UK’s Finch report on open access six years ago.

We believe there are a number of specific developments which could help open research and its longer-term sustainability, including areas we have been working on such as:

1) Wider adoption of new business models which have been put in place in some countries, particularly models allowing APC-free open access including read-and-publish deals;

2) Improvements to the hybrid journal model to support academic communities where a full transition to open access isn’t yet possible;

3) A community standard for a fair and balanced Green OA policy, with publishers supporting institutions to meet funders’ open access requirements;

4) Ensuring academic freedom for researchers about where they can publish.

We are committed to playing a positive role in the development of open research, working in conjunction with our communities of researchers, institutions, learned societies and their funders.

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