The document outlines 'Plan S', a policy requiring publicly funded research to be published in compliant open access journals by January 1, 2020. It emphasizes standardization of open access publication costs covered by funders, rejects hybrid publishing models, and mandates authors retain copyright under an open license. The plan also raises concerns about potential consequences for journal sustainability, equality in publishing, and the impact on various academic disciplines.

1. https://www.dur.ac.uk/research.innovation/ou
tputs/openaccess/coalitions/

2. “By 2020 scientific publications that result from
research funded by public grants provided by
participating national and European research councils
and funding bodies, must be published in compliant
Open Access Journals or on compliant Open Access
Platforms.”
https://www.scienceeurope.org/coalition-s/ (4th September 2018)
+ 11 National Funding Bodies
+ European Commission (inc ERC)
Signatories: 4th September 2018
&
+ 2 further National Funding Bodies
Signatories: by 5th November 2018

3. Principles of ‘Plan S’
Start date: 1st
January 2020
Open Access publication costs to be
covered by Funders or universities,
not by individual authors.
Policy/Funding to
be standardised.
OA costs capped
“Hybrid” model of
publishing will not
be compliant.
Non-compliance
will be sanctioned.
All
publication
formats.
Authors must retain
copyright, without
restrictions.
Published under an
open licence,
preferably CC-BY.
Open
Access on
publication

4. Principles of ‘Plan S’
Start date: 1st
January 2020
Open Access publication costs to be
covered by Funders or universities,
not by individual authors.
Policy/Funding to
be standardised.
OA costs capped
“Hybrid” model of
publishing will not
be compliant.
Non-compliance
will be sanctioned.
All
publication
formats.
Authors must retain
copyright, without
restrictions.
Published under an
open licence,
preferably CC-BY.
Open
Access on
publication
Green OA –
no embargo,
CC-BY licence
Gold OA
(Fully OA
journals only)
Gold OA
(Hybrid OA as
transitional
arrangement)

5. Why ‘Plan S’?
Barriers to access. Responsibility for appropriate use of
public funding.
Start date: 1st
January 2020
Failure of significant
progress towards
Open Access
Reduce complexity of multiple policies and
funding options.
Data from RCUK and Wellcome has shown an above inflation increase in
both the average APC (from £1,580 in 2013/14 to £1,988 in 2016/17)
Some large academic journal
publishers have reduced
options for free ‘Green OA’ by
increasing embargo periods,
forcing authors to pay for
Gold Hybrid OA.
data from the Wellcome Trust suggested
APCs in Hybrid journals were on
average 24% higher than those in fully
open access journals in 2016/17 (and
69% of Wellcome’s OA spend in this
period was for Hybrid journals)

6. Responses: ‘Plan S’?
Start date: 1st
January 2020
But what are the potential unintended consequences that
might concern you?
SUSTAINABILITY OF JOURNALS
• Ability of journals to adapt to new requirements / business
models in given timeframe
• Incentive for journals to do so in an international context
• Reputational damage to University owned journals, e.g.
Antiquity
• Disciplinary differences over format, content, funding
• Sensitivity to budgetary pressures
• What happens instead of cancelling subscriptions?

7. Start date: 1st
January 2020
But what are the potential unintended consequences that
might concern you?
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
• Some funding and Gold Access models (APC/Author pays)
may move budgetary decisions from “what journals we
subscribe to” to “what and who we support to publish.”
• Universities will need to review and adjust policies around:
• Recruitment, Academic Progression and Promotion,
where ability to publish via certain routes is restricted.
• Potential for impact on some groups where there is any
competitive disadvantage with international colleagues.
Responses: ‘Plan S’?

8. Start date: 1st
January 2020
But what are the potential unintended consequences that
might concern you?
LICENCING AND COPYRIGHT
• Specific concerns in Arts & Humanities around creative
commons licencing
• In particular around permission for creation of
derivatives
• Issues around 3rd party copyright of content, in particular
(but not limited to) some disciplines (e.g. Art History)
Responses: ‘Plan S’?

9. Start date: 1st
January 2020
But what are the potential unintended consequences that
might concern you?
JOURNAL QUALITY AND OTHER CONCERNS
• Impact of journals switching funding models on selectivity
of published academic research
• Risk of a dual-model: journals for Plan-S authors &
journals for other authors
• Risk of non-Plan S funded authors locked out of publishing
in compliant journals under some models.
• Access to non-Plan S content?
• If budget for subscriptions redirected, how do Plan S funded
institutions gain access to subscription only content?
Responses: ‘Plan S’?

10. Start date: 1st
January 2020
But what are the potential unintended consequences that
might concern you?
TIMEFRAME AND CONSULTATION
• Need for time to collect information around real
complexities in different disciplines.
• Further consultation required once information is gathered,
and before implementation.
• Since Sept 2018 announcement, a short timeframe for
publishers, scholarly societies, universities, libraries and
researchers to plan and prepare amidst uncertainty over
specific detail.
Responses: ‘Plan S’?

11. Example: Wellcome Trust Start date:
1st Jan 2020
Scope:
• Journal articles submitted for publication from 1st Jan 2020
• No immediate changes for monographs/book chapters
Requirements:
• Be freely available immediately upon publication
• … from Europe PMC / PubMed Central
• … under a CC-BY licence
Costs covered by funder:
• “reasonable” APCs (no price cap defined. Yet.)
• Only in journals…
• … indexed in Directory of Open Access Journals
• … have an agreement with NLM to deposit in PubMed
• … in fully ‘Pure’ Open Access Journals or [until 31 Dec 2021] in
journals with JISC transformative OA agreements.
• Will not cover publication costs (page charges etc.) or APCs in
Hybrid journals.

12. Research Committee
Start date: 1st
January 2020
UKRI have published initial (limited) implementation guidance,
and requested feedback by 1st Feb 8th Feb.
Library was asked to collect feedback and concerns from
Durham academic community.
University Research Committee was requested to give a clear
indication of:-
• How an institutional response will be brought together in short
timeframe presented, which:
• Reflects concerns of academic community
• Provides a rational response to a clear indication of
intention from funding bodies
• Scenario plan for impact on Durham University