The Endocrine Society and Open Access | Journal of the Endocrine Society | Oxford Academic

"On 12 January, The Endocrine Society (the Society) will break new ground with its publication of the first issue of the Journal of the Endocrine Society (JES). JES content by design will include a mixture of original clinical and nonclinical research, case reports, and other content of interest. As with its print-based counterparts, the JES peer review process, supervised by internationally recognized subject specialists, is rigorous and includes requisite revisions to ensure content quality. Substantially more articles than will be published in this first issue were submitted to the journal but have been declined for publication. Although all the Society’s journals are peer reviewed, the articles appearing here will be the first that we have published under a license [CC (Creative Commons) BY-NC-ND in most cases] that allows the articles to be read and used noncommercially by anyone in the world with a computer and an internet connection. JES advertises that distinction in its tagline: An Open Access Publication.

The new journal thus represents an innovative business model for the Society. After an introductory period during which gratis publication is offered, the costs of running JES will be met in large part by author publication charges, rather than by subscription fees.

The Society’s decision to establish an open access publication was made after extensive consultation with members and industry experts. Since the Journal of Clinical Investigation became the first major biomedical journal to take advantage of the potential of the internet to publish online, open access content in 1996, publishers, including BioMed Central (now part of Springer Nature) in the UK and the Public Library of Science in the US, have boosted the model by establishing suites of open access journals. The concept of open access publication has been endorsed and encouraged by major research funders, including the National Institutes of Health in the US and research sponsors in Europe and more recently China. In a key development, the Obama Administration in 2013 directed all federal agencies that support research to develop open access (and open data) publication policies, and most have now done so.  Scientific societies that publish journals, recognizing which way the wind is blowing, are developing open access publication options."