After intense feedback, cOAlition S published revised Plan S guidelines. As a major change, the start date for full implementation is postponed by one year.
After the consultation on Plan S closed in February, cOAlition S has now published their revised implementation guidance on 31 May. The guidance has been approved by all coalition members and incorporates feedback from over 600 stakeholder inputs, which constitutes the largest public consultation on Open Access ever.
The most important change in the guidance is the postponement of the official commencement date of Plan S to 1 January 2021, an entire year later than originally intended. The new timeline should give more opportunity to scientists, funders, publishers and repositories to adapt their culture and make policy changes. The second important change is the commitment of the funders in cOAlition S to revise methods of research assessment according to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). In addition, the new guidance supports transformative agreements until 2024, provides more options for transitional agreements and emphasises the importance of transparency in Open Access Publishing fees. In general, the guidance gives more clarity on the principles of Plan S and is supported by a rationale explaining the revisions.
Several stakeholder organisations have already published their opinions and welcome the changes. The European Research Council (ERC) reaffirmed its support to the principles of Plan S and appreciates that a high number of requests from the scientific community have been taken on board after the consultation. The coalition has managed to clarify many concerns and questions of researchers. The League of European Research Universities (LERU) considers the revised guidance a recognition of the culture shift needed in scholarly publishing at universities. These shifts also include changes in managing costs of publications at the institutions. LERU had voiced its opinion on Open Access already in its own LERU Roadmap for Open Science, published in summer 2018 even before the release of Plan S.
The latest opinion on the revised Plan S guidance stems from the European University Association (EUA). In a policy input published on 25 June, EUA in particular welcomes that the open license and retention of copyright principle in Plan S now allows exceptions for specific publications and the support for universities to explore new research assessment methods beyond the DORA declaration. Finally yet importantly, EUA greatly values the close cooperation with stakeholders that cOAlition S is seeking and the development of a review procedure before the end of 2024.
cOAlition S has also taken additional measures to move Plan S forward. On 5 June, it has appointed Neil Jacobs, Head of Open Science and Research lifecycle at the UK not for profit organisation Jisc as an interim programme manager (see press release). And only a week later, cOAlition S announced the support of 12 so called Plan S Ambassadors, a group of independent experts from the research community, who will act as local points of contact and information for Plan S. The Ambassadors will be instrumental in gathering concerns from the community and feeding them back to cOAlition S.