by Liam Earney, Director of licensing, Jisc. Presented at the sherif event: 'Plan S: Exploring Perspectives' on 25th February 2019 at CILIP Headquarters, London

1. Implications of Plan S for
UK Negotiations
February 2019
Continuity, Disruption and Challenges

2. Agenda
Sherif Plan S February 20192
•Plan S and continuity in UK negotiations for subscriptions and open
access
•The challenges associated with transformative combined agreements
•Implications for negotiations, Jisc and institutions
•Updating our negotiation objectives

3. Plan S and continuity in UK negotiations
The evolution of negotiations in response to the evidence

4. The UK transition to open access
Sherif Plan S February 20194
Progress at a cost
• The volume of UK research made OA has
increased dramatically
• BUT
• So have the costs
• Hybrid
• Pure Gold
• Combination of subscriptions and OA
• In absence of a global transition, institutions
must maintain legacy costs as well as OA costs
• A wide range of consequences in the structure of
the market for scholarly communications

5. Why persevere with combined agreements?
Sherif Plan S February 20195
Self Reported Expenditure on APCs by 53 institutions in 17-18

6. Jisc Collections negotiation objectives
Sherif Plan S February 20196
Draft negotiation criteria from January 2018
“if there is to be a sustainable and affordable transition to open access
in the UK, we need truly transformative agreements which do more than
simply add another revenue stream for publishers and which accelerate
a real and sustainable transition to open access.”
“Agreements will also need to recognise the diversity of our
consortium and deliver value to institutions with low publication levels
and those with a preference for publishing via the green route”

7. Desire for radicalism 5 years on from Finch
Sherif Plan S February 20197
Presentation to SCONUL Content Forum – 26th March 2018

8. Requirements of Transformative Agreements
Sherif Plan S February 20198
Developed over course of 2018 with feedback from sector
•Journal agreements must be transitional
•Agreements must constrain costs
•Agreements must aid compliance with funder mandates
•Agreements must be transparent
•Agreements must support improvements in service and workflow for
authors and administrators

9. Recognising the flaws of transformative
agreements

10. The response to the Wiley OA Proposal
Sherif Plan S February 201910
Ongoing negotiations for acceptable agreements
• Most institutions welcomed the objective of seeking 100% OA for a sustainable cost
But…
• Concern about the up front fee locking in too much of a funder’s grant with one publisher in
advance of actual use
• Lack of synchronisation between funder payments and subscription cycle
• Centralisation of budgetary responsibility where currently it’s distributed
• Concern about the risk of additional payments being required for ‘unfunded’ articles
• Concern that the agreement would not be considered transformative of compliant with the
policies of funders
• Concern that it didn’t demonstrate a commitment by the publisher to a fully OA future
• Concern over allocation of the APC pot across institutions
• Concerns over the lack of a green option

11. Implications of Plan S
Sherif Plan S February 201911
Content Strategy Group response to Plan S
• An initial increase in overall expenditure as existing subscription and APC spend
is bundled together
• A requirement to commit significant funds to pay for publishing, in advance of
actual use
• A reliance on historical print spend as the basis for the total fee paid to a publisher
• Costs arising from a mixed model of subscription and transformative agreements
• Applicability beyond large STM publishers
• Cost allocation and impact on research intensive institutions
• Rely on infrastructure and resourcing that may not be available to all publishers
• Does one size fit all?
• What if the UK is successful but other countries don’t follow suit?

12. Enhancing Plan S
Sherif Plan S February 201912
Content Strategy Group recommendations on Plan S
1. Transformative agreements function best as part of a suite of approaches
2. Recognise and support the value alternative models will bring
3. Apply the end date for hybrid OA judiciously
4. Define and refine the definition of transformative agreements
5. Examine the cost allocation implications of APC based OA
6. Support the coordination and evaluation of agreements at a global level

13. Implications for negotiations in 2019

14. Plan S has changed the negotiation
environment
Sherif Plan S February 201914
• Negotiating and renegotiating agreements that are compliant with the policies of
funders
• Wiley, Sage, RSC, CUP, OUP, T&F, ACS, IoPP, Elsevier
• Finalise SpringerCompact
• Learned societies
• Pure Gold publishers
• Approach based on Wellcome policy, Plan S guidelines, discussions and input
from UKRI, feedback from sector
• Employing new Licensing Managers
• Implement new governance model
• Review of Jisc Collections engagement and approach with institutions
• Implications for the legacy supply chain
• International collaboration

15. Building a new consensus
Revising our objectives

16. Draft negotiation objectives
Sherif Plan S February 201916
• Emphasise the diversity of our consortium
• Options that truly reflect this diversity
• Centrality of cost and value for money
• Transformative agreement does not just mean ‘Read and Publish’
• Must allow 100% OA
• Must cut subscription costs
• Must move towards payment in arrears
• Must not commit institutions to funding additional APCs to achieve 100% OA
• Must demonstrate that the publisher is committed to transition
• Must guarantee continuity of access to the front file as in subscription model
• Must be transparent and scored against Acceptability Criteria
• Must have a clear workflow
Meeting the challenges of a volatile environment

17. Plan S and being careful what you wish for…
Sherif Plan S February 201917

18. Thank you
Liam Earney, Director of Jisc Collections