Societies and the transition to Open Access A view from the Andrea Baier Deputy Head of Publications

HOORAY! OPEN ACCESS …BUT…

1913 April 12, 1913 (Saturday) April 12 The British weekly magazine New Statesman was founded by Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb, with financial backing by George Bernard Shaw. [23]New StatesmanSidney WebbBeatrice WebbGeorge Bernard Shaw [23] The British Ecological Society, an environmentalist organization that was the first of its kind in history, was founded by 47 persons who had been invited by the British Vegetation Committee. An American counterpart, the Ecological Society of America, would be created in The British Ecological Society, an environmentalist organization that was the first of its kind in history, was founded by 47 persons who had been invited by the British Vegetation Committee. An American counterpart, the Ecological Society of America, would be created in [24]British Ecological SocietyBritish Ecological Society [24] 20 about 20 staff 6 6 journals … 1 … and 1 book series 5000 ca members in ca. 100 countries Membership Magazine

15 15 Special Interest Groups … each reaching members & non-members

Advancing Ecology and Making It Count 1.1 We will continue to publish high-impact journals and will develop them to attract the best international ecological research. 1.2 We will seek to distribute ecological research in effective and novel ways so that information is readily available to all who wish to use it.

HOORAY! Aligns well with our goals to distribute research as widely as possible Gives access to those without university libraries

… and we haven’t been lazy! HYBRID – since 2005 GREEN – 12-month embargo compliant PREPRINT POLICY – since 2013 DELAYED GRATIS – 2 years after publication LIBRE – CC-BY options for GOLD OA since 2013 GOLD – since 2012 via Ecology and Evolution institutions via licenced sales or philanthropic deals 4.3 million > 4.3 million downloads in 2013

…BUT… Gold OA articles in the 5 hybrid journals

33 33 other strategic objectives journals to remain a sustainable and significant income stream 5.5 We will continue to develop and support the journals to further advance their standing and so that they remain a sustainable and significant income stream for the Society. 70 % 70 % of income comes from journals …BUT… …BUT…

So what to do???

2 Strategic Reviews submitting authors members 100s 100s of responses learned societies and relevant organisations ecologists and publishing professionals &1 clear message

No one size fits all.

Author survey : = 1: submitting authors ± 3% ± 3% margin of error 2 2 weeks in early % 90.3% completion rate >1300 >1300 respondents

How do authors choose journals? Reputation International reach Impact Factor Thorough peer review Reaching specialist audience Publication speed OA/with OA option

Does money play a role? …most appropriate journal …subscription journal without page charges other …GOLD OA journal …subscription journal with page charges …n/a

How many have published Open Access? Nr of OA articles published in past 3 years (paid a fee/received waiver)

Why did authors publish Open Access? 46.% 46.% of times: journal of choice happened to be an OA journal JournalofChoice 40% 40% of times out of personal choice “Because I want to!” 26.6% 26.6% of times: collaborator’s choice 7% of times: funder requirement§§§

If you haven’t published open access in the last 3 years, what were the reasons? 12% ! 12% journal of choice did not have an Open Access option ! 60% 60% of times authors did not have the funds And why not? 14% 14% of times money was available WILL/NEED

About the money… What APC would you be prepared to pay in a new selective Open Access journal?

further free comments Glad you are finally going to start Open Access publishing! Benefits of Open Access Benefits of Open Access Money and Open Access Money and Open Access Quality and Open Access Quality and Open Access Business model Business model I hope no BES journal would become Open Access.

Affordability of open access publishing differs widely across the globe. Therefore academics from poorer countries and institutions do not consider publishing in open access journals a viable option. As a graduate student with limited resources, but working in applied ecology, I would love to be able to make at least some articles (relevant to practitioners) open access, but the costs are prohibitive. Although I am from a wealthy country and a high-ranking university research funds for graduate students do not extent to publication costs and supervisors are only prepared to meet costs if it is necessary for publication. As a member of a small academic institution with limited funding, open access fees have the potential to really restrict my ability to publish. I know open access is the wave of the future, but I don’t like the low peer-review standards and financial barriers to publishing. I hope standard journals dominate for a while. I am much more sceptical of papers in open access journals because I assume they haven’t been vetted very well. Science improves if we all share. Open access helps young scientists attempting to get established to disseminate their work and get citations much more rapidly. This has become particularly important in light of the strong competition for jobs in the sciences.

Affordability of open access publishing differs widely across the globe. Therefore academics from poorer countries and institutions do not consider publishing in open access journals a viable option. As a graduate student with limited resources, but working in applied ecology, I would love to be able to make at least some articles (relevant to practitioners) open access, but the costs are prohibitive. Although I am from a wealthy country and a high-ranking university research funds for graduate students do not extent to publication costs and supervisors are only prepared to meet costs if it is necessary for publication. As a member of a small academic institution with limited funding, open access fees have the potential to really restrict my ability to publish. I know open access is the wave of the future, but I don’t like the low peer-review standards and financial barriers to publishing. I hope standard journals dominate for a while. I am much more sceptical of papers in open access journals because I assume they haven’t been vetted very well. Science improves if we all share. Open access helps young scientists attempting to get established to disseminate their work and get citations much more rapidly. This has become particularly important in light of the strong competition for jobs in the sciences.

Affordability of open access publishing differs widely across the globe. Therefore academics from poorer countries and institutions do not consider publishing in open access journals a viable option. As a graduate student with limited resources, but working in applied ecology, I would love to be able to make at least some articles (relevant to practitioners) open access, but the costs are prohibitive. Although I am from a wealthy country and a high-ranking university research funds for graduate students do not extent to publication costs and supervisors are only prepared to meet costs if it is necessary for publication. As a member of a small academic institution with limited funding, open access fees have the potential to really restrict my ability to publish. I know open access is the wave of the future, but I don’t like the low peer-review standards and financial barriers to publishing. I hope standard journals dominate for a while. I am much more sceptical of papers in open access journals because I assume they haven’t been vetted very well. Science improves if we all share. Open access helps young scientists attempting to get established to disseminate their work and get citations much more rapidly. This has become particularly important in light of the strong competition for jobs in the sciences.

Affordability of open access publishing differs widely across the globe. Therefore academics from poorer countries and institutions do not consider publishing in open access journals a viable option. As a graduate student with limited resources, but working in applied ecology, I would love to be able to make at least some articles (relevant to practitioners) open access, but the costs are prohibitive. Although I am from a wealthy country and a high-ranking university research funds for graduate students do not extent to publication costs and supervisors are only prepared to meet costs if it is necessary for publication. As a member of a small academic institution with limited funding, open access fees have the potential to really restrict my ability to publish. I know open access is the wave of the future, but I don’t like the low peer-review standards and financial barriers to publishing. I hope standard journals dominate for a while. I am much more sceptical of papers in open access journals because I assume they haven’t been vetted very well. Science improves if we all share. Open access helps young scientists attempting to get established to disseminate their work and get citations much more rapidly. This has become particularly important in light of the strong competition for jobs in the sciences.

Affordability of open access publishing differs widely across the globe. Therefore academics from poorer countries and institutions do not consider publishing in open access journals a viable option. As a graduate student with limited resources, but working in applied ecology, I would love to be able to make at least some articles (relevant to practitioners) open access, but the costs are prohibitive. Although I am from a wealthy country and a high-ranking university research funds for graduate students do not extent to publication costs and supervisors are only prepared to meet costs if it is necessary for publication. As a member of a small academic institution with limited funding, open access fees have the potential to really restrict my ability to publish. I know open access is the wave of the future, but I don’t like the low peer-review standards and financial barriers to publishing. I hope standard journals dominate for a while. I am much more sceptical of papers in open access journals because I assume they haven’t been vetted very well. Science improves if we all share. Open access helps young scientists attempting to get established to disseminate their work and get citations much more rapidly. This has become particularly important in light of the strong competition for jobs in the sciences.

Affordability of open access publishing differs widely across the globe. Therefore academics from poorer countries and institutions do not consider publishing in open access journals a viable option. As a graduate student with limited resources, but working in applied ecology, I would love to be able to make at least some articles (relevant to practitioners) open access, but the costs are prohibitive. Although I am from a wealthy country and a high-ranking university research funds for graduate students do not extent to publication costs and supervisors are only prepared to meet costs if it is necessary for publication. As a member of a small academic institution with limited funding, open access fees have the potential to really restrict my ability to publish. I know open access is the wave of the future, but I don’t like the low peer-review standards and financial barriers to publishing. I hope standard journals dominate for a while. I am much more sceptical of papers in open access journals because I assume they haven’t been vetted very well. Science improves if we all share. Open access helps young scientists attempting to get established to disseminate their work and get citations much more rapidly. This has become particularly important in light of the strong competition for jobs in the sciences.

I think open access is an ideal to which we should be moving, but do not publish OA because this is money that then cannot be spent on data collection. As a poor postdoctoral associate with relatively few grant $$, I love the idea of open access (who can pay for articles, especially if I lose ties to an institution for a while?), but I can't afford to pay to have my work published open access. It's kind of a catch-22. I work in a government environment, not one where grants may support publication costs and it is often impossible to identify the means to pay these costs. As an academic with a high publication rate but no active grants, I cannot afford to publish in journals that charge me to do so.

I think open access is an ideal to which we should be moving, but do not publish OA because this is money that then cannot be spent on data collection. As a poor postdoctoral associate with relatively few grant $$, I love the idea of open access (who can pay for articles, especially if I lose ties to an institution for a while?), but I can't afford to pay to have my work published open access. It's kind of a catch-22. I work in a government environment, not one where grants may support publication costs and it is often impossible to identify the means to pay these costs. As an academic with a high publication rate but no active grants, I cannot afford to publish in journals that charge me to do so.

I think open access is an ideal to which we should be moving, but do not publish OA because this is money that then cannot be spent on data collection. As a poor postdoctoral associate with relatively few grant $$, I love the idea of open access (who can pay for articles, especially if I lose ties to an institution for a while?), but I can't afford to pay to have my work published open access. It's kind of a catch-22. I work in a government environment, not one where grants may support publication costs and it is often impossible to identify the means to pay these costs. As an academic with a high publication rate but no active grants, I cannot afford to publish in journals that charge me to do so.

I think open access is an ideal to which we should be moving, but do not publish OA because this is money that then cannot be spent on data collection. As a poor postdoctoral associate with relatively few grant $$, I love the idea of open access (who can pay for articles, especially if I lose ties to an institution for a while?), but I can't afford to pay to have my work published open access. It's kind of a catch-22. I work in a government environment, not one where grants may support publication costs and it is often impossible to identify the means to pay these costs. As an academic with a high publication rate but no active grants, I cannot afford to publish in journals that charge me to do so.

Where does this leave the Society?

So what are our plans? Inform our members Look for new journal opportunities External funding Broaden our income sources Engage in the OA debate Make our voice heard

Thanks to BES photographic competitors / photo credits: Cath Waller (yawn), Tara-Leigh Dallas (seals), Jason Tylianakis (frog), Victoria Allen (crabs), Ute Bradter (weaver bird), James Bell (seal) BES staff Survey respondents