Two-thirds of publications within Plan S’ transformative journal programme have failed to meet their open access targets and will be removed from the initiative.
According to figures released by cOAlition S, an alliance of national funders committed to increasing open access scientific publishing, 68 per cent of the 2,326 titles in its transformative journals programme (1,589 in total) did not meet agreed targets for transitioning towards free-to-read publishing by the end of 2022.
Under Plan S, which launched in January 2021, transformative journals had to show an annual increase in the proportion of open access research content of at least 5 per cent and at least 15 per cent in relative terms, year-on-year. Journals in the programme also agree to flip to full open access when 75 per cent of the research content is published in this way.
Only 1 per cent of titles flipped to full open access by January 2023, while 695 titles (30 per cent) met or exceeded their open access growth rates, explained cOAlition S in a statement on 20 June.
