Expanding open access to publicly funded research

Over the past 15 years, many strategies have been developed to develop open access to research, including the creation of repositories and new publishing platforms. On 4 September 2018, a group of national research funding organizations, with the support of the European Commission and the European Research Council (ERC), announced the launch of cOAlition S, an initiative to make full and immediate Open Access (OA) to research publications a reality. It is built around Plan S, which consists of one target, 10 principles and Guidance on the Implementation of Plan S. The target is: «By 2020 scientific publications that result from research funded by public grants provided by participating national and European research councils and funding bodies, must be published in compliant Open Access Journals or on compliant Open Access Platforms». The initiators of Plan S announced a public debate to receive feedback from the academic community, which lasted from November 2018 to February 2019. The public consultation showed broad support for Plan S's main goal: full and immediate open access. As a result, cOAlition S decided to maintain its core principles. However, some of them were clarified in accordance with the feedback received. Members of cOAlition S, after discussing and considering numerous comments and recommendations, revised Guidance on the Implementation of Plan S. The main changes made include: One-year extension of the effective date of Plan S principles; expanding the scope of Plan S to attract research funded not only by state grants, but also by private; repository recognition on par with magazines and other open access platforms; guarantee to authors or copyright institutions; reduced requirements for open platforms, magazines and repositories; cOAlition S sponsors undertake to evaluate research results based on their intrinsic value.