cOAlition S is pleased to announce that Aligning Science Against Parkinson’s (ASAP) is the latest group to join the coalition and demonstrate its commitment to the realisation of science without publication paywalls. cOAlition S now has 23 members from across Europe, North America, Africa, and the Middle East.

ASAP is an international research initiative to advance targeted basic research for Parkinson’s disease. Led by Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman, ASAP was created by the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy with support from the Sergey Brin Family Foundation. As a part of its work, ASAP will coordinate a multidisciplinary research network using a team-based approach to investigate the biological basis of Parkinson’s disease, funded at an unprecedented scale.

“There’s still so much to uncover about how Parkinson’s disease arises and progresses. It is our firm belief that Open Access and research transparency will accelerate the pace of discovery which is why we’re joining cOAlition S” explained Dr. Randy Schekman, ASAP’s Scientific Director.

Johan Rooryck, cOAlition S Open Access Champion, added that “we’re very pleased to welcome ASAP as a member of cOAlition S. The commitment to open research, as demonstrated by the growing group of health-related foundations and funders within cOAlition S, has the potential to revolutionise health research on a global scale.”

cOAlition S aims to work with publishers, societies, consortia, and other stakeholders to accelerate the transition to Open Access. One of the current priorities is to develop clearer approaches to transformative arrangements towards full and immediate Open Access. Today an independent report and toolkit are launched to do just this.

This work was commissioned by Wellcome and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – two UK members of cOAlition S – in partnership with the Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP). Information Power were appointed to lead the project.

The resulting report and toolkit are designed to help support learned society publishers to accelerate their transition to Open Access, and enter into transformative agreements that unlock a multi-year transitional pathway compliant with Plan S for hybrid Open Access titles. All outputs are available under a CC-BY licence at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4561397

More information on the project, the report, and the toolkit is also available on the Information Power website.

cOAlition S aims to help make the nature and prices of Open Access publishing services more transparent, and to enable conversations and comparisons that will build confidence amongst customers that prices are fair and reasonable.

Wellcome – in partnership with UKRI and on behalf of cOAlition S – have appointed Information Power to lead a collaborative project with publishers, funders and universities to develop a framework for these communications.

The project will run from September through December 2019.

More information is available in the Information Power press release.

Jean-Claude Burgelman, the newly appointed Open Access Envoy at the European Commission, has been officially nominated to the cOAlition S Executive Steering Group (ESG).

Mr Burgelman’s appointment to the ESG will help ensure the European Commission’s commitment to delivering on the ambitions of Plan S over the coming months and ensure their representation in all cOAlition S matters.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Burgelman said “the European Commission is working with stakeholders around Europe and beyond to take forward its Open Access agenda. I am delighted to join the Executive Steering Group to help further implement the EU’s objectives in the Open Access to publications and data.”