Public Library of Science

Public Library of Science
Name	Public Library of Science
Founded	October 2000
Founders	Patrick O. Brown, Michael Eisen, Harold Varmus
Key people	Alison Mudditt (CEO)
Focus	Open access publishing, Scientific communication
Location	San Francisco, California
Website	plos.org

Public Library of Science. The Public Library of Science is a nonprofit open-access publisher and advocacy organization founded to transform scientific and medical communication. It is best known for launching high-impact journals like PLOS ONE and pioneering business models that make research immediately available under Creative Commons licenses. The organization has played a pivotal role in the global open access movement, influencing policies at institutions like the National Institutes of Health and the European Commission.

History and founding

The organization was conceived in 2000 by biochemist Patrick O. Brown, computational biologist Michael Eisen, and former Nobel Prize laureate Harold Varmus. Their initial effort was a 2001 petition urging scientists to boycott journals that did not make their content freely available in public repositories like PubMed Central within six months of publication. When this call for a boycott did not achieve its goal, the founders decided to create their own publishing venue. Incorporated in San Francisco in 2003, the first journal, PLOS Biology, launched that same year with backing from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Sandler Foundation. This marked a strategic shift from advocacy to direct competition with established publishers like Elsevier and Springer Nature.

Publishing model and open access

The organization operates on a strict gold open access model, where all published research is immediately and permanently free to read, distribute, and reuse. Authors retain copyright and must agree to publish under a Creative Commons license, typically the CC BY license. This model stands in contrast to the traditional subscription-based system of many legacy publishers. A central innovation was the introduction of the Article Processing Charge, where the costs of publication are shifted from readers to authors or their funders. This approach was designed to align the publisher’s revenue with the service of publication rather than the restriction of access.

Journals and publications

Its flagship titles include PLOS Biology and PLOS Medicine, which are highly selective journals competing with publications like Cell and The New England Journal of Medicine. A transformative publication was PLOS ONE, launched in 2006, which pioneered the "megajournal" concept by focusing on scientific soundness rather than perceived novelty or impact. Other community-focused titles include PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Genetics, and PLOS Pathogens, often published in partnership with scholarly societies like the International Society for Computational Biology. The organization also publishes PLOS Climate, PLOS Water, and PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, reflecting broader scientific and societal challenges.

Impact and influence

The success of PLOS ONE demonstrated the viability of large-scale, open-access publishing and spurred competitors like Springer Nature's Scientific Reports and Elsevier's Heliyon. Its advocacy and publishing practices have significantly influenced open access policies worldwide, including the landmark 2008 NIH Public Access Policy and the Plan S initiative in Europe. The organization's emphasis on open data has pushed other publishers to adopt stricter sharing requirements. Furthermore, its journal platforms have facilitated novel forms of post-publication review and commentary, altering the dynamics of scientific discourse.

Business model and sustainability

Revenue is generated primarily through Article Processing Charges, which vary by journal, with PLOS ONE having a lower fee than the more selective flagship titles. Financial sustainability has been an ongoing challenge, with the organization reporting periods of operational deficit. To diversify income, it has explored institutional partnership programs, where universities like the University of California system pay annual fees to support publishing for their researchers. The nonprofit status means any surplus is reinvested into the mission, supporting community initiatives and advocacy work, distinguishing it from the profit margins of commercial publishers like John Wiley & Sons.

Criticisms and controversies

The organization has faced criticism over the high cost of its APCs, which can create barriers for researchers without ample grant funding, particularly in the Global South. The sheer volume of articles published in PLOS ONE has led to occasional concerns over peer review quality and the retraction of problematic papers. Some in the academic community have questioned the long-term financial model of APC-driven open access, arguing it may not scale sustainably. Additionally, its strong stance on open access has sometimes placed it at odds with traditional publishers and subscription-based academic societies during debates over mandates like Plan S.

Category:Open access publishers Category:Scientific organizations based in the United States Category:Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco