Funders flesh out details of Europe’s bold open-access plan

A group of major science funders that launched a radical plan to change the face of scholarly publishing earlier this year has released details of how their plan will work.

The 16 funders – almost all from European nations – say that from 2020, the researchers they fund must either publish in open-access journals, or, if they choose another publishing route, make a near-final copy of their manuscript immediately open in an repository the funders have approved.

The guidance document, published on 27 November, answers many of the questions scientists have had about the initiative, called ‘Plan S’, since its launch in September as a series of principles. And it comes with a public consultation to give researchers a chance to have their say.