Imperfect but necessary: Funder Mandates & the shift to Open Access

"Below are my thoughts on why funder mandates requiring grantees to publish immediate open access are essential and worthy of support. Specifically, my thoughts on why the new initiative (Plan S) from the European Commission to accelerate the transition to full open access is good for science and society. This plan was announced in September 2018 and is going into effect in January of 2020; it requires grantees of the funders participating in the plan to publish their research in fully open access journals only. This initiative is the result of a struggle from the late 1990s to get publishing to change. Plan S started with 11 national funding agencies in Europe, but has since been quickly expanding with Wellcome Trust, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other funders joining it recently...."