KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In a recently published review of Plan S, cOAlitions S describe key initiatives that aim to meet the changing needs of the evolving open access landscape.
• New features of the practical ‘Journal Checker Tool’ were discussed, as well as the latest advancements towards diamond open access.

2023 marked the 5th anniversary of the launch of Plan S by cOAlition S, a group of mainly European research funders with a mission to achieve “full and immediate open access (OA) to research publications”. Although much progress has been made, the group recognise that there is still work to do, with a substantial proportion of new research articles sitting behind paywalls. In February 2024, the latest review of Plan S was released, with a rundown of new and ongoing plans that aim to turn the dial further forwards full OA.

The state of open access

OA rates for research funded by cOAlition S members remained high (~80%), particularly compared with the global average (60%). Gold OA was most widely used among cOAlition S member-funded research, along with an increasing number of OA publications made available via ‘hybrid’ journals. It was suggested that this increase was likely due to transformative agreements, and that this number may fall following the decision by cOAlition S to halt financial support for these agreements after 2024.

Strategic initiatives

The review detailed 4 key initiatives that will have an impact over the course of the next year:

• A study to assess the impact of Plan S was launched, which aims to evaluate how Plan S has contributed to OA and its global effects on the scholarly landscape.
• A public consultation is ongoing to further develop the “Towards Responsible Publishing” proposal, which aims to move to systems where authors control how their work is shared.
• The organisation Information Power was commissioned by cOAlition S to devise a proposal for a fairer pricing system for publishing. A working group was also convened in partnership with PLOS and Jisc to create a framework to move away from article processing charges.
• Support for diamond OA, which cOAlition S “see as the most equitable OA publishing model on the planet”, continued, and a framework for a Global Diamond Federation was outlined.

Useful tools

As well as new proposals, the report reviewed practical tools already made available to researchers, including:

• the Journal Comparison Service, which allows comparison of journal publishing services and fees
• the Journal Checker Tool, which is used to identify Plan S compliant routes to publishing OA. New features of this tool mean that users are also now able to check if a transformative agreement is in place for a particular journal or institution.

Future perspectives

Executive Director of cOAlition S, Johan Rooryck, highlighted that these initiatives look “forward to a bold vision for the future of scholarly communication”. Indeed, updates on many of the latest initiatives, such as the Plan S impact study, are expected in the coming months. It will be interesting to see how these new developments impact on OA research in 2024 and beyond.

Executive Director of cOAlition S, Johan Rooryck, highlighted that these initiatives look “forward to a bold vision for the future of scholarly communication”.

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