In observance of Open Access Week 2023 (#oaweek23), we underscore our commitment to advancing the principles of open science and facilitating the unrestricted dissemination of scientific research. As a leading European publisher established in collaboration with learned societies, we have been strong proponents of open access initiatives and policies, aiming to advance these whenever possible.

EDP Sciences and open access

Open access is a cornerstone of open science, providing free and unrestricted access to information. At EDP Sciences, we publish open access articles primarily under a Creative Commons license, most commonly the CC-BY license. This license enables broad dissemination, allowing anyone to copy, distribute, adapt, and even commercially exploit the work, provided the original authors are credited properly.

We are actively transitioning our entire portfolio toward open access and have been early adopters of the Subscribe to Open (S2O) model. This model aims to sustainably convert subscription journals into open access without the need for Article Processing Charges (APCs).

Diamond open access and financial transparency

We also publish "Diamond" open access journals and books, which are free for both readers and authors. With a focus on financial transparency, we release annual transparency reports detailing the costs and prices for all journals published under the S2O model.

Embracing FAIR data principles

Aligned with our commitment to open science, we have adopted FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) principles for research data. We encourage authors to upload data relevant to their research to online repositories and to include a Data Availability Statement and data citations in their articles.

Innovations in data types and sharing

We support database linking, thereby facilitating easier discovery and access for researchers and a number of our journals and conference proceedings have created bidirectional links to data repositories and published articles on our publishing platform. Additionally, we have pioneered the publishing of alternative forms of data, such as audio and video, including the world’s first journal to publish audio articles, Acta Acustica. These initiatives add multimedia dimensions to scientific communication.

Preprints and open peer review

EDP Sciences has a generous self-archiving policy and supports the deposition of articles in open repositories like HAL. In partnership with Peer Community In (PCI), a platform that publishes recommendations of preprints after peer-review, we offer PCI-friendly journals that recognize and may utilize PCI reviews and recommendations.

Supporting global initiatives

As signatories to the UN SDG Publishers Compact, we endorse the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, emphasizing the role of open access in achieving these global objectives. Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC) and the Initiative for Open Abstracts (I4A). All our journals—whether open access or subscriber-based—have their reference lists and abstracts deposited with Crossref, enhancing discoverability and facilitating text mining.

Services to advance open access

EDP Sciences provides a range of services, from online editorial management systems to article hosting and technical management. We also offer journal development and marketing by an experienced international team. We have successfully transitioned existing journals, like Parasite, to open access and have launched new open access journals, such as SICOT-J.

As the scientific community observes Open Access Week, EDP Sciences reaffirms our commitment to advancing open science, emphasizing that the free and unrestricted sharing of knowledge benefits scientists and society alike.

To read more about our open access initiatives, visit our Open Science page.