OPEN ACCESS
SCOAP3
The TENTOP questions
What is Open Access ?
Open Access is the name of an international movement in favour of free
access to scientific literature.What is an Open Access Journal ?
It has the same quality control as traditional journals, there is no
change in the commitment to peer-review, the only change is the
cost-recovery model.What is SCOAP3 ?
SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle
Physics) is an initiative of European Funding Agencies, libraries and
consortia.
Its goal is to propose to the HEP community a new model of publications
to :- Give access to all the published HEP literature without any
restriction to any reader- control the spiralling subscription costs
- Allow any author to Open Access publications without financial barrier
- Maintain the high quality of the HEP journals
- Stimulate the competition between the high quality journals
What are Open Archives ?
Open Archives are the repositories (subject or institutional) where the
authors archive their articles but not peer-review is performed at this
stage.
They contain also documents which will never be published. All the
documents are available for the readers as soon as the author archives
the document in the repository.ArXiv is considered as the pionner Open Archive.
Will the libraries still subscribe to the paper version of the SCOAP3
Model Journals ?SCOAP3 recommands to unsubscribe but the funding agencies and the
libraries will have the choice according to the contracts signed by the
national consortia.Who is concerned by SCOAP3 ?
All the authors: physicists, engineers wishing to publish an article in
the HEP domain. It concerns experimental and theoretical HEP physics.Will I still have access to the articles already available online ?
In principle yes, the access to these articles does depend on the
subscription contracts between the Funding Agency (or university or
consortia) and publishers.Will all the articles published in Open Access Journals be stored on a
single web site ?They are available on the publisher web site and will be stored for long
term archiving on a single web siteWill it be possible to publish in the same journals as before SCOAP3,
even if they are not Open Access ?Yes, but the libraries will probably cancel the subscriptions as they
can no more afford the cost of traditional journals. Those should be
less and less read. Concerning the authors, the only way to encourage
and develop
Open Access Publishing is to choose among the journals supported by SCOAP3.Will I have to pay when I submit an article in a SCOAP3 model journal ?
No, there will be no charge, the cost is paid to the publishers by
SCOAP3, acting for the funding agencies. It is transparent for the
authors and readers: they can read and publish without any financial
charges as usual.
*If you want to know more about SCOAP3 and Open Access *
What is a "Green" Open Access Journal ?
The publisher authorizes free access to the pre/postprints of the
published articles in a subject or institutional repository, after an
embargo period fixed by the publisher.What is a "Gold" Open Access Journal ?
The access to the peer-reviewed articles is free for the readers,
without subscription to the journal, as soon as the article is
published. The funding agencies of the authors afford the cost for
publishing.Are preprints concerned by SCOAP3 ?
No, SCOAP3 model concerns articles published in peer-reviewed
international HEP JournalsDo the articles published in SCOAP3 Model Journals can be archived in
an institutional repository (ArXiv for example) ?Yes, before and/or after publication. This point is part of the
tendering process of SCOAP3What will change for the authors willing to publish in a SCOAP3 Journal ?
Nothing, the process is the same as in the traditional model.
The authors will submit their articles to the journal and they will
benefit of the widest and immediate dissemination of their peer-reviewed
work through the Open Access model.If new HEP Journals are emerging, is SCOAP3 going to add them in the
model ?The Consortium decided to start with recognised high peer-review
standards journals valued by the HEP community but in the future if new
high level journals are created, they could be welcomed in the model.Who can read the articles of the SCOAP3 model Journals ?
The access to the peer-reviewed articles is free for any reader.
Are the articles available to readers as soon as they are published or
will there still be an embargo period ?The articles are available as soon as published. In an Open Access
context, publishers have to provide immediate access to the articles,
there is no embargo.Will it be possible to submit an article to a SCOAP3 model journal
through an institutional or subject repository ?Yes, this possibility is part of the tendering processs
Why the High Energy Physics community ?
§ This community has already a long and established tradition of green
Open Access (through ArXiv) from the '90.§ the number of concerned journals is very small (less than 10):
§ 83% of the articles are published in 6 leading journals
§ 87% are published by 4 publishers
§ 57% are published by 2 "not-for-profit" publishers
§ It has already experimented new models of publications, with low-cost
Journals (JHEP, JCAP, JINST) or sponsored journal (PRST-A&B).What is the financial model in SCOAP3 ?
SCOAP3 is based on a "fair-share" model, the contributions by countries
are defined according to the repartition of the HEP articles by country.
Every country organizes its own repartition between its different
Funding Agencies.
The funding agencies transfer subscription fees to SCOAP3, who acts as
the single financial partner for publishersWill the authors have to pay when they submit an article in a SCOAP3
model journal ?No, SCOAP3 model is not an "author fee" model. There will be no charge
for the author. The cost is defined between SCOAP3 (acting for the
funding agencies) and the publishers according to published papers of
the previous years."What avantages for the fundings agencies ?
§ The competition between the publishers should reduce the prices
§ There is no more administrative or commercial constraints, as these
actions are transferred to SCOAP3§ The dissemination of the peer-reviewed results of the research will be
wider and immediate, which could be of great interest for getting funds.What avantages for the authors ?
SCOAP3 proposes a model quite transparent for the authors: they can read
and publish without any financial chargesThey will benefit from a wider dissemination of their peer-reviewed work.
Dominique Jarroux-Declais
Responsable IST IN2P3
IPNL, 4 rue Enrico Fermi
F - 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex
Tel : (33) 4 72 43 1267 - Fax : (33) 4 72 44 8004
Mail : jarroux@ipnl.in2p3.fr