The impact of Plan S on scholarly journals from less developed European countries

"A recent study of national or regional influences on OA publication culture (12) suggests that economically less developed countries with relatively low research and development budgets directly or indirectly support open access to their research outputs. Joining cOAlition S and compliance with Plan S OA publishing model, however, could pose an insurmountable challenge, considering that national research funders in these countries are already struggling with budgets they have. Academic journals in these countries are not-for-profit by default, as they are being published by learned societies, universities, or research institutes. These publishers usually release just one or a couple of journal titles covering the fields and promoting the mission of their parent institutions. Publishing in OA is their way to ensure wider visibility and/or impact in the global research community. However, the publishing model proposed by Plan S mainly aims at paywall journals and different models of transformative agreements. It does not include non-APC funding models, and their survival will probably continue to depend on the local situation. DOAJ includes, for example, 351 Romanian, 126 Croatian, and 70 Bulgarian journals. Their “diamond” OA publishing model (free access for readers and article processing for authors) is supported entirely by public funds and revenues (13-15). One may wonder how many of these titles actually publish original research and whether the research output of these countries really requires that many titles. The competition for public funding in these countries has intensified over the last two decades, as allocated revenue cannot keep up with the demand to cover even the basic expenses of all journals, which leaves them at the mercy of current government policies and strategies of scientific development and alternative avenues of income, which are scarce. The prospective of losing financial support from governments/institutions may soon drive diamond OA journals, especially those in the STEM area, to embrace the APC model to survive. Many local STEM journals whose mission is not primarily to publish new research even face extinction. Humanities and partly social sciences journals are in a somewhat better position, as they are more likely to receive national support and keep the diamond OA model because of their national/local outreach...."