Introducing Jean-Sebastian Caux, J-S is a theoretical condensed matter physicist developing the strategy and practice of Diamond Access (no-fee publication/reading) in science. This started with physics and he is now adding chemistry. I think BO will be a great place to find volunteers and information.
He writes: >>>> Separately, on the SciPost side, here follow a couple of points worth sharing. After establishing our activities in Physics, we'd really like to extend our services to the community in Chemistry. The idea is to apply precisely the same guiding principles (not-for-profit; academics-led; open refereeing etc, see https://scipost.org/about) while developing the Chemistry branch. As a kind of separate note, it's important to understand that SciPost is proposing a very different business model than those currently discussed (APCs, etc). The details of this are explained at https://scipost.org/finances/business_model/ . We have already defined a couple of journals, most importantly SciPost Chemistry (see https://scipost.org/SciPostChem/about) which we would like to breathe life into. The most important foundation stone for this is to build an Editorial College in Chemistry. We already have a handful of people (see https://scipost.org/colleges/chemistry) but we're looking for 30 - 50 more to give proper momentum. Fellows should be academics with very high reputation and with their heart in the right place as far as reforming academic publishing is concerned. The workflow for Fellows is summarized at https://scipost.org/submissions/editorial_workflow (the official by-laws are at https://scipost.org/EdCol_by-laws). <<<< It is clear that "transformational agreements" , where funders pay the OA costs (APCs) create more problems than they solve. If you are not employed by a rich, Northern, university then you can't publish. I'm working with groups in India and Latin America and it's clear we shall only be able to publish in a Diamond Access journal. APCs of 2000 - 5000 USD are completely beyond academics in the Global South or scientists not employed in rich institutions (I am retired). I think the TAs allow publishers to increase charges enormously and are globally and socially divisive. The answer is Diamond journals and preprints. I am working with J-S to search and index equations in physics journals (it could also apply to chemical physics and physical chemistry). The goals include: * ontological help for authors * novel search tools for readers If you believe that Diamond journals are the way forward or feel that the Global South and non-academics get a bad deal from current publishing then please join us. P -- "I always retain copyright in my papers, and nothing in any contract I sign with any publisher will override that fact. You should do the same". Peter Murray-Rust Reader Emeritus in Molecular Informatics Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry University of Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK +44-1223-336432
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