Plan S

Plan S
Name	Plan S
Launched	2018
Proponents	cOAlition S; Science Europe; Wellcome Trust; European Commission
Objective	Open access to scholarly publications
Status	Ongoing

Plan S

Plan S is an initiative launched in 2018 by a consortium of research funders to mandate immediate open access for scholarly publications. It was coordinated by cOAlition S with participation from funders such as Wellcome Trust, UK Research and Innovation, European Research Council, and national agencies across European Union member states, aiming to accelerate the transition from subscription-based journals to open-access venues. The initiative interacts with stakeholders including academic publishers like Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley, research institutions such as University of Oxford, Max Planck Society, and policy bodies like the European Commission and European Parliament.

Background and goals

The initiative emerged from dialogues involving Science Europe, European Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and national funders responding to debates sparked by activists such as Aaron Swartz and proposals like the Budapest Open Access Initiative. Key goals included ending paywalls for publicly funded research, promoting reuse through open licenses associated with frameworks like Creative Commons, and shifting costs from subscription models to publishing fees or institutional agreements. The policy built on precedents in mandates from organizations such as US National Institutes of Health and influenced concurrent movements at institutions including Harvard University and MIT.

Key principles and requirements

Core principles required immediate open access under liberal licenses such as Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY), depositing final accepted manuscripts in compliant repositories like PubMed Central, Europe PMC, or institutional repositories at University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich. Funders demanded no embargoes and sought transparent fee structures from publishers, encouraging transformative agreements with publishers including Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Taylor & Francis. The policy specified that authors retain copyright, using rights-retention strategies similar to approaches at Max Planck Society and legal instruments referenced in decisions from courts such as the Court of Justice of the European Union in related intellectual property disputes.

Implementation and timelines

cOAlition S released implementation guidance with phased timelines and technical guidance referencing persistent identifiers like DOI and metadata standards used by CrossRef and ORCID. Initial mandates targeted new grant-funded outputs from 2020, with revisions and extensions announced in 2019 and 2021 to accommodate negotiations with publishers and national transitions in systems at France's CNRS, Germany's Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and Sweden's Vetenskapsrådet. Implementation involved coordination with infrastructures such as OpenAIRE, Directory of Open Access Journals, and repository networks at institutions like University of Amsterdam and University of Helsinki. Funders provided transitional funding models and caps on article processing charges influenced by discussions with Budget Committees in parliaments and finance offices at funding agencies.

Reception and criticism

The initiative provoked responses from a wide range of stakeholders. Prominent publishers including Elsevier and Springer Nature criticized aspects of the approach, while academic societies such as the American Chemical Society and Royal Society expressed concerns about revenue and learned-society publishing. Advocates from organizations like SPARC and activists such as Peter Suber supported the ambition, whereas researchers at institutions like University of California and Stanford University debated disciplinary impacts. Critics cited potential risks to journals in fields dominated by societies such as the American Mathematical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and raised questions about equity for authors without funding from agencies like NIH or regional funders in the Global South.

Impact and outcomes

Plan S accelerated negotiations leading to transformative agreements between consortia such as Projekt DEAL and publishers including Wiley and Springer Nature, altering subscription contracts at universities including Heidelberg University and University of Vienna. It contributed to growth in open-access journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals and increased repository deposits in Europe PMC and institutional archives at University of Edinburgh. Some publishing models evolved, with hybrid journals and new platforms like PLOS and eLife adapting policies. Empirical studies by organizations such as European University Association and Wellcome Trust tracked changes in citation patterns, article-level metrics via Altmetric, and cost trajectories, though long-term sustainability debates continue, engaged by stakeholders including UNESCO.

Legal and funding considerations

Legal considerations involved copyright retention strategies, licensing under Creative Commons, and compliance with national and supranational laws including statutes referenced by the Court of Justice of the European Union and national intellectual property offices. Funding considerations included caps on article processing charges, support via project grants from bodies such as Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, and negotiations on transformative agreements by library consortia like LIBER and national consortia exemplified by BIBSAM in Sweden and Couperin in France. Equity mechanisms were discussed to assist researchers in lower-resourced settings, involving philanthropic support from organizations such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and programmatic adjustments by agencies like Wellcome Trust and European Commission.

Category:Open access