[BOAI] ERC and cOAlition S rift

Jean-Claude Guédon jean.claude.guedon at umontreal.ca
Fri Jul 24 18:12:17 BST 2020


This is all the more important that a rift has emerged between ERC and 
cOAlition S 
(https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsciencebusiness.net%2Fnews%2Feuropean-research-councils-rejection-open-access-scheme-slap-face-says-plan-s-architect&data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&sdata=QGV5cW%2BIx5A5mzl5%2B%2BeVcNt0n2HVej6DLyWGL9i2cGg%3D&reserved=0). 


The basic weakness of Plan S is not what ERC claims - namely Plan S' 
refusal of hybrid journals and insistence upon "transformative 
agreements". The basic weakness of Plan S is its inherently favourable 
bias in favour of APC-Gold. Regrettably, ERC does not address this point

Sometimes, Plan S looks like a plan to make hybrid journals move to full 
APC-Gold, and that reaching this outcome will complete the long journey 
to OA. Alas, this effort is naive at best, and the targeted form of OA 
inherent in Plan S is not satisfactory to all. Thankfully, Amelica and 
CLACSO, in Latin America, have rightfully objected to this, and, after 
many internal debates, if circulating rumours are accurate, Plan S has 
accepted allowing research funding agencies supporting platforms and 
diamond publishing to participate in the cOAlition. The survey announced 
below is indeed very important in this regard.

On ERC's side, the criticism of Plan S is based on Plan S' refusal of 
hybrid journals and its attempt to transform these journals into full 
APC-Gold journals. It links its decision to the possible effects of this 
refusal on young researchers. This is a very unsatisfactory argument for 
two reasons.

     1. Invoking academic freedom to publish where one wants really 
amounts to accepting being coerced to publish according to the iron law 
of the impact factor of journals. This is particularly true of young 
researchers whose careers are vulnerable. We all know how unsatisfactory 
this approach is, but how crucial it is to the publishers' business plans.
     2. If funding agencies really want to support young researchers and 
their careers, they simply have to target this category of researchers 
appropriately. By making young researchers compete against seasoned 
researchers, and by managing the competition on the basis of criteria 
that leave a large place to the impact factor and to prior publications, 
funding agencies essentially ensure two results: a strictly hierarchic 
social system for the production of knowledge, and a guaranteed 
strategic position to those who control journals. In the latter case, 
this means a complex relationship between publishers and editorial 
boards (i.e. seasoned researchers in the latter case) which, 
incidentally, has not yet been discussed adequately in OA and Open 
Science circles.

Conclusion? Easy to state:

1. Plan S must come out clearly and strongly in favour of diamond 
publishing. APC-Gold is not a good outcome for OA is we are talking 
about knowledge as a process involving the whole of humanity and not 
just the North Atlantic plus a few, select countries outside that zone.
2. Funding agencies participating in Plan S must move beyond intoning 
the DORA principles while maintaining the essential elements of their 
evaluation procedures: evaluate research on the basis of what is 
presented, and not on the basis of where it was made public. In other 
words, do not outsource evaluation procedures to a logo-based system 
which was designed for commercial, rather than research-oriented, goals.

In passing, the DORA principles are very good, but funding agencies 
should not be allowed to use DORA as a fig leaf. Implementation, i.e. 
concrete, serious, rigorous implementation is what funding agencies need 
to practise. And it will be to their advantage as they will be able to 
manage research programmes that correspond to their aims, without these 
programmes being polluted by the imperatives of journal competition and 
its relentless quest for ever more citations.

Jean-Claude Guédon





On 2020-07-24 3:39 a.m., Vanessa Proudman wrote:
>
> << Apologies for cross-posting>>
>
> Dear colleagues
>
> Please help usgaina deeper understanding of the landscape of journals 
> and platforms publishing Diamond OA — the publishing model where 
> research is both free for authors to publish and free for readers to 
> access.
>
> This work will provide insights that will help cOAlition S 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coalition-s.org%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=4keWV8ZNkXWJDg9Es2jvjD1xMF1SknP0u6UcqNRS1fg%3D&amp;reserved=0> and 
> other stakeholders develop effective policies and funding mechanisms 
> that more strategically support this sector.
>
> Your help is essential as we work to gather information from and about 
> journals and publishing platforms that follow the Diamond model.
>
> There are three ways you can help with this survey, which is part of 
> the Diamond Open Access Study 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coalition-s.org%2Fexploring-collaborative-non-commercial-publishing-models-for-open-access-tender-results%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=gNEXLzBJoSIPSc%2FdSL1g3ouHRLMj1Xx5O4YJjYoKs9k%3D&amp;reserved=0>commissioned 
> by cOAlition S.
>
> •              If you belong to the scientific or editorial team of a 
> journalbased on the Diamondmodel, we’d very much appreciate your 
> considering completing this survey. (in English 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.surveymonkey.com%2Fr%2FGZQDBT5&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=FFuC3iLEiezLSQwD7YZbfedzYJQsu1eRFVgP6A8F9fY%3D&amp;reserved=0>, 
> German 
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> French 
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> Italian 
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> Spanish 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.surveymonkey.com%2Fr%2FGZQDBT5%3Flang%3Des&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=pgbgjhsz3mDDij6W9JojIVHA9o84VNz%2FArQluPtRWsk%3D&amp;reserved=0>and 
> Portuguese 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.surveymonkey.com%2Fr%2FGZQDBT5%3Flang%3Dpt&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=K5Qo35p61RWm%2BjCFMdBKWFdHYY5ULA7fFzPEw3WmsjQ%3D&amp;reserved=0>)NOTE: 
> The survey will be open until the 25th of August 2020
>
> •              If you know of a Diamond OA journal or platform that is 
> not included in major databases, like DOAJ 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdoaj.org%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=Q1e95lrOn7XQsGf461jPc9kvSoiyDb9ugt2DHJjBxNc%3D&amp;reserved=0>, please 
> add their information to this spreadsheet 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fspreadsheets%2Fd%2F1_RjMPEapudrJ68TaX8p-tZJitFfIaFRnbuhqh4DsekU%2Fedit%23gid%3D1209639872&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=8F4chF%2Bf9GyfBpJMkZyhZPUizQx6FfZDjO7nSmm78Ko%3D&amp;reserved=0>or 
> simply pass this appropriate survey link on to them, the English one 
> being (see above for other languages): 
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.surveymonkey.com%2Fr%2FGZQDBT5&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=FFuC3iLEiezLSQwD7YZbfedzYJQsu1eRFVgP6A8F9fY%3D&amp;reserved=0 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.surveymonkey.com%2Fr%2FGZQDBT5&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=FFuC3iLEiezLSQwD7YZbfedzYJQsu1eRFVgP6A8F9fY%3D&amp;reserved=0>
>
> • We invite you todisseminate this message to your community to 
> increase our outreach to as many quality journals as possible. 
> Amessage is available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish or 
> Portuguese 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Fdrive%2Ffolders%2F1b4kFrbTipIkevxT8WjFDMagYN2p4iiLp&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=MzhLXU40A15ZOf7z0y2nnLQnI01cqmD7baGc20gkmvM%3D&amp;reserved=0>.
>
> The landscape of open access journals and platforms that does not 
> charge authors to publish is broad and diverse. These journals and 
> platforms serve specific research areas in different languages, and 
> are attuned to local or regional needs specific to various publishing 
> cultures. This rich variety makes it hard for diamond journals to be 
> viewed as a publishing sector with common strengths, goals, and 
> challenges. As a result, diamond journals’ specific impact on the 
> scholarly community is often underestimated.
>
> This survey aims to draw a more complete picture of the diamond 
> journal offering to identify concrete ways to rally, coordinate, and 
> support this sector in the future.
>
> SPARC Europe 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsparceurope.org%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=kP%2BB8yy62sqAOMxYGDcvJ50vM4csx%2Fq35qAf8ke4vVI%3D&amp;reserved=0> 
> is among a consortium of organisations awarded this cOAlition S 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coalition-s.org%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=4keWV8ZNkXWJDg9Es2jvjD1xMF1SknP0u6UcqNRS1fg%3D&amp;reserved=0> / Science Europe 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scienceeurope.org%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=BJZwAYfOnJxXGZeBmGT8vyqTvTABFMPVqgtOfnxE4cg%3D&amp;reserved=0>project 
> to explore Diamond Open Access publishing models worldwide.
>
> The Consortium is co-ordinated by OPERAS 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Foperas.hypotheses.org%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=VxOMLzxl%2BlZotNkC%2FVTMAnMjS1mYOgnm%2FcVT9qI3Cxg%3D&amp;reserved=0>, 
> the infrastructure for open scholarly communication for SSH in Europe. 
> Its partners in this study are: SPARC Europe 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsparceurope.org%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=kP%2BB8yy62sqAOMxYGDcvJ50vM4csx%2Fq35qAf8ke4vVI%3D&amp;reserved=0>, 
> Utrecht University 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uu.nl%2Fen&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=hqajtyqoaBpvAEGpdGKQnwiPpZ0rCdIZ0Sl87ya5MNQ%3D&amp;reserved=0>, 
> DOAJ 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoaj.org%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=ZnB0k8B7rUXznedofeUmIXb9d2MvCKW4dU2UWf%2FHMsU%3D&amp;reserved=0>, 
> UiT The Arctic University of Norway; 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.uit.no%2Fstartsida&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=RdW9uIMW7miTWWUh1C8OoLkjUxP%2F21oEHGxMkapNy9A%3D&amp;reserved=0> 
> LIBER 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flibereurope.eu%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=AXocaDen0VSG82zdA8Fr338s4Z0ApCnVu4BjlA3xtRw%3D&amp;reserved=0>, 
> OASPA 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Foaspa.org%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=CIUDGShGNjxiBwk0lXvKz6apozXKqH%2BDoMieNZ%2BboJM%3D&amp;reserved=0>, 
> ENRESSH 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fenressh.eu%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=aZQB1LWYuRVU%2Bktfzvhnby84FQ%2B%2ByRj04JX1YW6N9bk%3D&amp;reserved=0>, 
> Redalyc-AmeliCA 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Famelica.org%2Findex.php%2Fen%2Fhome%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=ia%2FAjigBVnqpvWDUM6k%2Fhsu45TZ3uSmioOqkAJzUsPE%3D&amp;reserved=0>and 
> CSI 
> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.csi.mines-paristech.fr%2Fen%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cf2371849e17c4af45c9f08d82ff4ba52%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=jstFKC5MDM9okFEgYQ9%2BjgL%2BNvu02mdNaQ0UrdYhG%2B4%3D&amp;reserved=0>.
>
> The study is commissioned by cOAlition S, a group of national research 
> funders, European and international organisations, and charitable 
> foundations who are committed to making full and immediate Open Access 
> to research publications a reality.
>
> If you have any questions about the survey or spreadsheet,please 
> contact: operas at operas-eu.org 
> <mailto:operas at operas-eu.org?subject=Diamond%20OA%20survey%20question>
>
> Best regards, Vanessa
>
> ***************
>
> Vanessa Proudman
>
> Director, SPARC Europe
>
> skype: vanessaproudman
>
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