Dear Friends of Cognition (International Journal of Cognitive Science),

Recently the editorial team of the journal Lingua, led by Johan Rooryck , petitioned Elsevier to support a transition to a Fair Open Access model of publishing (as described below). When Elsevier rejected this proposal, the 6 Editors of Lingua resigned en masse, and created a new Fair Open Access journal, Glossa. The 31 members of the Lingua editorial board followed suit, joining the editorial board of Glossa.

The net effect of this move is that open access publication fees have been reduced by approximately $1400 , without affecting the quality of the editorial process, while simultaneously widening the availability of the journal’s contents to all interested institutions and individuals.

With Jesse Snedeker , I’m asking you to support an effort to explore the possibilities for Fair Open Access at the journal Cognition ( where OA fees are currently $2150 ). A large number of colleagues, including Rooryck, have already signed on to this project. No demands or ultimatums will be issued – only a request that the Cognition editorial board consider the Fair Open Access model. If you agree to this we’ll send you exactly one email (no more) that contains a final draft letter and will ask you to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to your participation. Critically, we are encouraging everyone to continue supporting and contributing to Cognition: It’s the creation of our collective research dollars, time, and efforts.

We have kept this note as brief as possible with the hope that you’d read it. If you’d like more information about the feasibility of this project, see the details and links below. We believe that the logistical and financial challenges posed by Full Open Access can be met if we draw on the resources of our community and knowledge gained by other groups that have pursued this path.

Please share this to your timeline and send yours emails to:

Dave Barner (barner@ucsd.edu)

& Jesse Snedeker (snedeker@wjh.harvard.edu)

p.s., Feel free to share this note and/or rework it to your liking to recruit others to this effort. Anyone who’s interested can write me to join in.

p.p.s., This note has been edited from its original form based on the input of the Cognition community.

———————

This letter is an act of concerned members of the Cognition community. Currently, we have no specific demands. Instead, we are asking the community to join in writing a letter than will ask the editorial board at Cognition to investigate the Fair Open Access model. Below we have presented details regarding the Lingua->Glossa transition for information only, and not to advocate for identical measures, since the situation of Cognition may differ in important ways.

In their request, Rooryck and his editorial team asked for five changes to be implemented, as below.

1) The journal be transferred to full Open Access status,

2) Article Processing Charges (APCs) should cost 400 euros or the USD equivalent

3) The copyright of articles should remain with the authors,

4) The journal should henceforth operate under a cc-by licence,

5) Ownership of the journal should be transferred to the collective of editors at no cost.

When Elsevier rejected this proposal, the 6 Editors of Lingua resigned en masse, and created a new Fair Open Access journal, Glossa. The 31 members of the Lingua editorial board followed suit, joining the editorial board of Glossa.