KEY TAKEAWAYS

• cOAlition S plans to drop 1,589 titles from its transformative journal programme due to insufficient progress towards open access.
• The move highlights the growing importance of accelerating the shift to open access in the scientific community.

cOAlition S has decided to part ways with 1,589 journals that have been too slow in transitioning to open access (OA), as reported by Jeffrey Brainard for Science.org. The decision serves as a wake-up call to the scientific community, emphasising the urgency to embrace OA publishing.

cOAlition S, an alliance of public agencies and research funders, aims to promote immediate and unrestricted access to scientific publications that arise from publicly funded research. Aligning with its mission, cOAlition S has offered to cover OA fees for hybrid journals, on the condition that they commit to transitioning to full OA according to specified milestones:

• an annual increase of at least 5% in the proportion of OA papers relative to the total number of papers, and
• a minimum 15% growth in the share of OA papers compared to the previous year.

Out of the 2,326 transformative journals enrolled, two-thirds failed to meet these targets in 2022, leading to their planned removal from the programme at the end of 2023.

While this decision may have little impact on well-funded institutions, where researchers can afford hefty OA fees to publish in reputable journals, it will likely pose significant challenges for modestly funded scholars. Those relying on cOAlition S to finance OA publication in affected titles may need to consider publishing their findings in journals that fully embrace the principles of OA at no cost.

Those relying on cOAlition S to finance OA publication in affected titles may need to consider publishing their findings in journals that fully embrace the principles of OA at no cost.

Publishers are urged to prioritise the transition to OA to stay relevant in the ever-evolving research landscape. By doing this, they can strengthen their global reach, attract more readers, and increase the visibility and impact of the research they publish.

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