Plan S

Plan S is an initiative for open-access science publishing launched in 2018[1][2] by "cOAlition S",[3] a consortium of national research agencies and funders from twelve European countries.

[3] The key principle states that by 2021, research funded by public or private grants must be published in open-access journals or platforms, or made immediately available in open access repositories without an embargo.

The ten principles are: In October 2023, cOAlition S released a proposal that would "reimagine scientific publishing without any author fees" (diamond open access).

[8][9] A task force of Science Europe, led by John-Arne Røttingen (RCN) and David Sweeney (UKRI), has developed a specific implementation guidance on the Plan S principles, released on 27 November 2018.

[15] To re-use scholarly content, proper attribution needs to be given to the authors, and publications need to be granted a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to share and adapt the work for any purpose, including commercially.

[85][86] Stephen Curry, a structural biologist and open access advocate at Imperial College London, called the policy a "significant shift" and "a very powerful declaration".

[87] Ralf Schimmer, head of the Scientific Information Provision at the Max Planck Digital Library, told The Scientist that "This will put increased pressure on publishers and on the consciousness of individual researchers that an ecosystem change is possible ...

"[89] Herpetologist Malcolm L. McCallum suggested that science requires a diversity of publishing types to serve the needs of the entire scientific community.

For example, the Rights Retention Strategy has been enthusiastically promoted by Cambridge neuroscientist Stephen Eglen because it can be used by anyone to make their work open access.

[100][101] On 15 January 2021, the AAAS, which publishes Science, announced a trial OA policy that accommodates Plan S's green open access rules.

[103][104] In 2024, the Gates Foundation announced a "preprint-centric" open access policy, and their intention to stop paying article-processing charges.