Charting the Future of Science: Reforming scientific publishing for a new era of open knowledge - International Science Council

"Given the vital importance of these processes, the International Science Council has undertaken a rigorous review1 of current practices so as to identify contemporary needs for science publishing and to assess the extent to which the current system serves those needs. The Council’s studies led to development of eight essential principles for modern scientific publication, which were endorsed by over 90% of the membership present at its 2021 General Assembly. The principles are listed in Paper One, The Key Principles for Scientific Publishing accompanied by an analysis of the extent to which they are observed operationally....

The conclusion of this exercise has been that the current operation of the science publishing system falls far short in the principles that are essential to its effective operation, and that significant reform is needed. This conclusion is all the more important in light of the current global commitment to a new era of open science, in which new forms of openness are believed to be vital in enhancing the trustworthiness and utility of science as an essential human enterprise. The achievement of this open science vision depends fundamentally upon an effective, globally pervasive knowledge network based on the Council’s eight principles....

The ideal outcomes of reform would be systems that support four basic functions: 

• funding of publishing that is internationally coordinated in ways that calibrate national financial contributions through indices of capacity to pay, with no charges for authors or readers; 
• standards for publication that incorporate the ISC’s eight principles, and standard setting that is accountable to the international scientific community; 
• agreement amongst universities to only use articles published in ways that adhere to these standards when evaluating scientific contributions; 
• creating a functional record of the complete output of scientific articles as characterized above, making the record of science freely available to all. ..."