Plan S – quo vadis? | SciELO in Perspective

"Plan S has moved away from promoting APC-supported Open Access and is moving toward developing a more ‘responsible’ and scholar-led Open Access structure. However, the specifics of the new approach are still to emerge. Ongoing initiatives focus on transparent fees, alternative publishing models, and addressing disparities, e.g. between one the one side well-funded researchers in richer countries and on the other less well-funded scientists in poorer countries, and un-funded ones anywhere. New recommendations and studies are expected to shape policy in the coming years. These efforts are said to be part of an evolving Open Science scene.

So far, Plan S’s compliance requirements proved to be unworkable for the vast majority of publishers. Is a more direct route to Open Access workable?...

Of course, the goal of Plan S remains to make all journal publication “diamond”. What “diamond” means in this context is that neither reading or publishing in journals should carry a cost to its users, be they researchers, or anybody else. What it does not mean is that a system like that is cost-free; it just means that such a system needs to be subsidised, and–probably–also not-for-profit. Who should come up with the subsidies remains a big question.

In that light, Plan U might offer an alternative way forward. Plan U3 is an idea formulated by Richard Sever, Michael Eisen, and John Inglis. The idea is simple and elegant: funders would require that any publication resulting from research they funded is first deposited on an open preprint platform, after which it may subsequently be submitted to a journal, if the latter is deemed necessary...."