ALPSP Position Statement on Plan S

"The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) is the international trade body for not-for-profit organizations and institutions that publish scholarly and professional content. Founded in 1972, ALPSP represents over 300 member organisations in 30 countries, making it the largest trade association helping scholarly and professional publishers around the world.

Publishing is a fundamental part of the research process. Representing learned societies and not-for-profit publishers with communities across all disciplines, including science, medicine, humanities and social sciences, ALPSP is committed to facilitating researchers sharing their work to allow the advancement of knowledge for the benefit of society. Moving towards open access is aligned with this commitment.  We recognise Plan S aims to escalate the movement of journals to a fully open access business model and are supportive of the central principles of Plan S. However, we believe the scale and complexity of the proposed transition, together with the short timescale involved, could introduce unintended consequences which we would like cOAlition S to take into consideration...."