14/01/2020
Today an independent report is published by Information Power and is the output of a project funded by Wellcome and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on behalf of cOAlition S to inform the development of Plan S. Funders, libraries, publishers, and universities have worked together to inform the development of a framework intended to provide information about OA services and prices in a transparent, practical, and insightful way.
The report recommends that the introduction of a new Plan S requirement needs to be organised with clear implementation guidelines, and a proper plan for testing, development, release, review, and refinement, with a pilot as a next step. cOAlition S has accepted the recommendation that such a framework needs to be piloted before implementation and agreed a project extension to pilot and refine the framework during the first quarter of 2020. Participants include Annual Reviews, Brill, The Company of Biologists, EMBO Press, European Respiratory Society, Hindawi, PLOS, and SpringerNature. Other publishers are welcome and are invited to express interest in joining the pilot via info@informationpower.co.uk.
cOAlition S is delighted to see all stakeholders engage in the development of this transparency pricing framework and based on the outcome of this pilot will decide how to use this framework, or a refinement of it, together with other models for inclusion in the requirement for those journals where Plan S requirements apply.
The full report and price transparency framework are available at: https://www.informationpower.co.uk/recommendations-for-transparent-communication-of-open-access-prices-and-services/.