Initiating a transformative agreement as a small scholarly society: Interview with Gaynor Redvers-Mutton

"Prior to Plan S, many scholarly publishers yet to test out Open Access journal models had begun considering possible approaches, but few guessed they’d be transitioning to OA so quickly. Now, publishers that wish to comply with the initiative to make research funded by cOAlition S members fully and immediately OA, which went into effect on the 1st of January, have been feeling the crunch to condense the kinds of strategic journal program decisions they might have planned over the course of a few years into as little as a few months.

The Microbiology Society was one of the first small publishers to take the plunge to commit to a transition plan from subscription to OA publishing in response to Plan S. As part of the “Society Publishers Accelerating Open Access and Plan S“ (SPA-OPS) project, the society opted to take a Transformative Agreement (TA) Plan S route, one which few small publishers had previously tested. The society managed to develop an institutional set-price Publish and Read (P&R) package from ideation to execution in less than a year. The first P&R TA was a pilot that the society has built upon in subsequent institutional negotiations. The publishing team plans to assess the outcomes of its current transition efforts before deciding on future OA business development steps.

In the interview below, The Microbiology Society’s Head of Business Development & Sales, Gaynor Redvers-Mutton, discusses the rapid approach the society publishing team took to releasing a working TA and how they are thinking about the next phase of their OA publishing program...."