IOP launches ‘offsetting’ scheme to cut cost of open access | News | Times Higher Education

"The 'offsetting' arrangement devised by the Institute of Physics’ publishing arm will allow universities that subscribe to its 'hybrid' journals to publish more open access papers in them without incurring greater costs. The additional cost associated with the transition to open access publishing has been a major bone of contention among research-intensive universities since the UK government endorsed the Finch Group’s recommendation for the UK to set a 'clear policy direction' towards journal-provided gold open access, which often requires payment of an article fee. In an open letter to Finch Group chair Dame Janet Finch earlier this year, universities and science minister David Willetts said he understood the concern and called on publishers to set up offsetting arrangements ... He said the solution was to institute a sliding scale on which the split of price reductions between individual institutions and subscribers generally would be split. Initially 90 per cent of the reductions will go to the participating institutions. But as take-up of open access increases, a greater proportion of the savings will be passed on to subscribers generally, up to a maximum of 90 per cent.  The deal complements a similar arrangement IoP Publishing made earlier this year with libraries and research funders in Austria. The Royal Society of Chemistry’s publishing arm also offers an offsetting scheme, known as Gold for Gold, whereby subscribers to its full package are offered the chance to publish a certain number of open access papers each year without additional charge ..."