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On December 21<sup>st,</sup> <i>The Scientist</i> announced that PLOS CEO Elizabeth Marincola has taken up a new position as Senior Advisor Science Communication and Advocacy at the African Academy of Sciences (AAS).
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PLOS Chief Financial Officer Richard Hewitt has, therefore, taken over as interim CEO from January 1<sup>st</sup>.
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Marincola’s departure comes at a time when PLOS faces growing competitive pressure. Last September, for instance, it was reported that Nature’s megajournal
<i>Scientific Reports</i> had overtaken PLOS’ “cash cow” PLOS ONE in terms of the number of articles published.<o:p></o:p></p>
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Separately Elsevier has announced (2014) that it plans to partner with a number of African organisations, including the African Academy of Sciences, to create a new African megajournal (modelled, presumably, on PLOS ONE).
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A number of questions arise:<o:p></o:p></p>
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What, if anything, does Marincola’s move tell us about PLOS and its future? <o:p>
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On 27<sup>th</sup> December, <i>The Scientist</i> published a short Q&A with Marincola. One of the questions asked was where she saw PLOS’ place in the OA publishing marketplace. Marincola began her reply by saying:<o:p></o:p></p>
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“The first and primary mission of PLOS when it was founded was to make the case that open-access publishing could be a sustainable business, whether in a nonprofit environment or a for-profit environment. So the very fact we have a lot of competition now is
extremely satisfying to us and it is, in itself, a major part of our vision. As Harold Varmus said when he cofounded PLOS, if we could put ourselves out of business because the whole world becomes open-access STM publishing, that would be the greatest testament
to our achievements.”<o:p></o:p></p>
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Will Marincola be helping to create Elsevier’s new African megajournal?<o:p></o:p></li></ol>
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How appropriate/useful is it for publishers from the Global North to be developing scholarly communication solutions for the Global South?<o:p></o:p></li></ol>
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More here: <o:p></o:p></p>
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<o:p> </o:p></p>
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<a href="http://poynder.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/promoting-open-access-in-africa.html">http://poynder.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/promoting-open-access-in-africa.html</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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