BioMed Alliance provides feedback to Plan S
The BioMed Alliance provided feedback to the public consultation on Plan S, the initiative of the European Commission, Research Funding Organisations and Science Europe to promote open access publishing.
While a majority of members welcomes the initiative proposed by Coalition S and supports the promotion of open access publishing, members shared certain concerns about the scope and implementation of Plan S.
In particular, they see the plan as underdeveloped, the timeline as too ambitious and the content as too restrictive and inflexible. Plan S, or Coalition S, is an initiative of the European Commission and national funding organisations that aims at promoting open access and ensure that scientific publications that receive funding from its members are freely accessible immediately upon publication.
The intention of the Coalition is to enhance access to academic publications funded with public money, since many researchers struggle to pay the high costs. The most important consequence of Plan-S is that researchers that receive public funding from participating organisations will no longer be able to publish in paid, non-open access journals.
The BioMed Alliance has issued a statement outlining its feedback on Plan S, which cautiously welcomes the initiative while listing a number of concerns voiced by member organisations.
