EDP Sciences celebrates International Open Access Week 2019
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International Open Access Week 2019 is a key event in the scholarly communications calendar and celebrated through a variety of events and activities. This year’s theme is “Open for Whom? Equity in Open Knowledge” which highlights an important question. “As the transition to a system for sharing knowledge that is open by default accelerates, the question “open for whom?” is essential—both to consider and to act upon.” ( Nick Shockey, SPARC).
As an academic publisher founded and owned by learned societies, EDP Sciences actively supports open access and publishes many open access journals, books and conference proceedings. “A considerable number of our journals are either full open access or included in transformative agreements with countries, institutions and consortia supporting us in our transition to full open access. EDP Sciences is actively engaged in integrating additional journals and institutions in existing transformative agreements and negotiating further agreements.” (France Citrini, Associate Publishing Director)
The role of transformative agreements
Transformative agreements advance open access by enabling a corresponding author from an institution, consortium or indeed a whole country with which EDP Sciences has a transformative agreement to publish an article in open access free of charge, whether or not the journal is fully open access as long as it is included in the agreement. Last December, we announced a transformative agreement between Astronomy & Astrophysics and the Max Planck Society.
EDP Sciences also supports the National Open Access Agreement in France - the only one of its kind. Corresponding authors from institutions that have joined the national agreement are eligible to publish their articles open access. Member institutions include the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Institut Pasteur.
Liberty APCs and Research4Life waivers – supporting open access
EDP Sciences is pleased to offer the Liberty APC (article processing charge) or ‘pay what you want’ model for the publication of accepted articles in a number of journals. EDP Sciences is also an active member of Research4Life and provides a waiver to authors based in certain countries included in the Research4Life programme. Find out more about these initiatives here.
4open – an open access flagship
Amongst EDP Sciences’ open access journals is 4open, an international multi- and inter-disciplinary open access journal built on the four pillars of Open Science; Open Access, Open Data, Open Code and Open Peer Review. Open Peer Review is optional and needs the “opt-in” of all parties. 4open is also one of the journals which offers authors the Liberty APC. In July, we were pleased to announce that 4open is now indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) which is used by many organizations worldwide as a guide to quality open access journals.
EDP Open Books – open access in all areas
EDP Open Books is a highly-visible and comprehensive online solution for the publication of books in open access. All our books are peer reviewed and indexed in the Directory of Open Access Books and OAPEN. Costs are covered by books processing charges (BPCs) and the books remain freely and permanently available online to anyone, increasing visibility and discoverability for authors’ work. Fine out more about EDP Open Books here.
Looking ahead
According to International Open Access Week 2019, “Established by SPARC and partners in the student community in 2008, International Open Access Week is an opportunity to take action in making openness the default for research—to raise the visibility of scholarship, accelerate research, and turn breakthroughs into better lives.” Here at EDP Sciences, we couldn’t agree more as we strive to support the academic community at every stage.
“As a learned society publisher, EDP Sciences supports open access and the dissemination of science. We are therefore committed to transitioning as many of our journals as possible into full open access in the coming years.” (France Citrini, Associate Publishing Director)
For further information, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Senior Publishing Editor, EDP Sciences.