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Transformative Journals: Frequently asked questions

 

Author FAQs

Librarian FAQs

 

Author FAQs

What are the benefits of Open Access publishing?

There are clear author benefits to publishing Open Access in our journals. When we look at readership, we can see that our Open Access articles receive at least three times as much usage in their first six months, compared with our non-Open Access articles. We see a slight citation advantage and also a boost when we look at altmetrics, which measure the online attention received by our articles.

What is Plan S?

Plan S is an initiative for Open Access publishing that was launched in September 2018 and comes into play from 1 January 2021. The plan is supported by cOAlition S, an international consortium of research funders. Plan S requires that scientific publications that result from research funded by cOAlition S funders’ grants must be published in compliant Open Access journals or platforms.

cOAlition S endorses the Transformative Journal approach.

Are Transformative Journals Plan S compliant?
Yes, our commitment to the Transformative Journal approach makes us Plan S compliant, which supports those of our authors with cOAlition S funding. By continuing to offer author choices, we ensure that we support our whole author community whatever their funder and financial status.

How do I know if the Company’s journals comply with other funder mandates?

We believe our journals, Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology, currently comply with all funder mandates and provide a range of options to ensure that authors can publish with us – these include fully Open Access CC BY options and free PMC deposition for e.g. NIH authors, in addition to free non Open Access publication.

What are Transformative Journals?

Transformative Journals proactively champion Open Access publishing and have Open Access growth targets. By providing a transition period, the model acknowledges that not all of our authors are ready for Open Access (which requires support from their funders and institutions) and ensures that every author in our community can continue to publish with us.

How are Transformative Journals different from hybrid journals?

As hybrid journals, Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology already offered Open Access publishing options. As Transformative Journals they will continue and extend their Open Access support by:

  • gradually increasing share of Open Access content year on year
  • promoting the benefits of Open Access publishing
  • providing transparent metrics for published articles
  • providing comparative metrics for Open Access articles compared with subscription content
  • providing greater transparency on the services covered by the article processing charge (APC)
  • offering ‘transformative’ Read & Publish agreements to libraries/consortia
  • continuing to offset subscription revenue to avoid ‘double dipping’

What are the three publishing routes for authors?

Authors will still have the same three routes to publication as we transition towards full Open Access:

  1. Free publication (not Open Access)
    With this option, the author pays nothing at all. The article is available to our subscribers for six months and is then freely available to everyone after this time.
    This option might appeal to authors whose funders and institutions do not mandate Open Access and authors who do not want to choose Open Access or pay an Open Access fee. This option could be important given the financial challenges within the university sector.
  2. Open Access (author pays)
    The author will pay an article processing charge (APC) to publish their article Open Access. Articles will be published under a CC BY licence and will be available to everyone immediately upon publication.
    This option will appeal to authors whose funders or institutions mandate Open Access or to authors who prefer to publish Open Access.
  3. Read & Publish deals
    The third option is for authors whose institutions are participating in our new Read & Publish Open Access initiative. Read & Publish agreements are arranged by librarians and provide unlimited access to our subscription journals plus free and unlimited publication of Open Access research articles by corresponding authors. These agreements therefore support institutions and authors working to meet funding requirements and to make Open Access the default publishing choice.

What is a Read & Publish agreement?

Available to libraries and library consortia worldwide, Read & Publish agreements offer unlimited access to our subscription journals plus free and unlimited Open Access publishing of research articles by corresponding authors.

We were one of the first not-for-profit publishers to launch a Read & Publish initiative and a list of participating libraries and library consortia is available here.

How do I know if my institution has a Read & Publish agreement?

Please refer to our list of participating institutions. New Read & Publish deals are being agreed regularly and when institutions join us, we will update this page as well as announcing the news via our social media channels.

If your institution has Read & Publish agreement, we recommend that you select the journal’s Gold Open Access option during submission of your manuscript. An article processing charge (APC) payment link will be sent to the corresponding author at acceptance and waivers will be applied automatically based on the institution details provided at submission. Publication will proceed following verification by the institution and articles will be published under a CC BY license.

I would be interested in publishing under a Read & Publish agreement but my institution isn’t participating. What can I do?

Read & Publish agreements are arranged through libraries. If you would like to inform librarians at your institution about the opportunities that Read & Publish agreements offer authors as well as readers, please suggest that they look at the Read & Publish section of our Library Hub. To find out more, they can contact subscriptions@biologists.com and we will be delighted to help.

Which policies cover which article types?

When we report our % Open Access against Open Access growth targets, this measure will include research content such as Research Articles, Research Reports and methods/techniques papers.

Authors of front section articles, such as Reviews, also have the option to pay an article processing charge (APC) should they wish to publish Open Access (but these articles will not be included in our reported % Open Access for research content).

Our Read & Publish agreements cover Open Access publishing for research content only: Research Articles, Research Reports and methods/techniques papers. The exception is the Jisc agreement with institutions in the UK, through which corresponding authors at participating institutions can also publish free Open Access front section articles, such as Reviews.

What are the Open Access fees or APCs for the journals?

The article processing charge (APC) for Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology is $5,000. For most of our journals, the APCs don’t cover the true cost of quality publishing (including costs relating to quality peer review; support for academic editors; plagiarism and image manipulation checks; text and figure checking; layout; and online hosting, dissemination and archiving).

If you pay for Open Access publication and we fail to fulfil our Open Access commitments, an APC rebate is available.

Can I request a waiver on the APCs for the Transformative Journals?

Throughout the transition period authors will still be able to select free non-Open Access publication in addition to the Open Access options. As free publication remains an option, we will not grant article processing charge (APC) waivers. Please note that a waiver scheme is in place on our fully Open Access journals, Disease Models and Mechanisms and Biology Open.

Do you make a profit from the APCs that authors pay?

No, the article processing charges (APCs) don’t always cover costs and in fact the hybrid journals currently subsidise our fully OA journals, which only break even before overheads.

I don’t have funds to pay for Open Access publication – can I still publish in the journal?

Yes. Simply pick free non-Open Access publishing. With this option, the author pays nothing at all. The article is available to our subscribers for six months and is then freely available to everyone after this time.

As a Plan S funded author, can I use the Rights Retention route to provide my Author Accepted Manuscript Open Access in order to comply with my funder mandates?

Plan S have emphasised that their preferred route to compliance is Open Access for the final published Version of Record and this is provided through the Transformative Journal approach – supported by Plan S – either by paying an article processing charge (APC) or through an institutional Read & Publish agreement. We will also deposit any Open Access articles into PubMedCentral on the author’s behalf.

Therefore Plan S authors should not need to use the Rights Retention route (i.e. to deposit an Author Accepted Manuscript CC BY), but please contact us if APC funds are not available from your funder (and the corresponding author is not part of a Read & Publish agreement).

What is the timeline for transition?

The Plan S transition period is currently 1 January 2021 – 31 December 2024.

Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology aim to:

  • grow the proportion of Open Access research content by 5% year on year (or 15% in relative terms) over the transition period 2021—2024. This will require the support of funders and institutions as we promote Open Access publishing to their authors. To allow flexibility, the annual growth targets may be spread over a rolling 3-year period.
  • transition to full Open Access when the journals reach 75% Open Access research content. Journals could transition earlier with the support of the journal communities. Financial support from cOAlition S funders for hybrid journals ends 31 December 2024.
  • report annually on our transformational journey. Our Open Access growth targets are challenging and require real changes in the marketplace such as funder mandates (including financial support for Open Access) and more libraries/consortia taking up our Read & Publish deals. We will monitor our progress on this transformational journey closely and will openly report on it, highlighting successes and areas of concern, ensuring we work together with stakeholders to maximise the chances of success.

What happens if the journals don’t meet their percentage Open Access growth targets during the transition period?

We will be promoting Open Access publishing to our authors and providing routes for them to choose Open Access – we will also be promoting our Read & Publish agreements to libraries/consortia to support authors in this regard. We therefore do expect our percentage Open Access research content to grow year on year. But we absolutely respect author choice and acknowledge that many of our authors will require new support from their funders/institutions in order to choose one of our Open Access options. We will be working closely with our cOAlition S stakeholders to demonstrate that we are making real efforts to grow Open Access research content and that our efforts are producing results.

The pattern of Open Access uptake is currently different for each of our hybrid/transformational journals and the pattern for Open Access growth during the transition period may also be different for each journal.

What happens in 2025 when the transition period is over?

If, by 2025 or earlier, the three journals have reached 75% Open Access research content, they will flip to fully OA journals. We believe this would reflect real changes in the publishing landscape and that our communities of authors (supported by their funders and institutions) would therefore be ready for this change at that time. We will be working closely with our stakeholders to maximise the chances of success.

If the 75% OA threshold has not been reached by 2025, then the Company will need to consider whether enough progress has been made along the OA pathway to justify an OA flip and crucially whether the change is supported by the journals’ author communities (which will depend in large part on the policies and support provided by their funders and institutions).

Our decision may need to be different for each of our hybrid/transformative journals.

If you have additional questions we haven’t answered, please contact us at info@biologists.com.

Librarian FAQs

If the percentage of Open Access articles increases, will my subscription be devalued? What is your “double-dipping” policy?

We are committed to ensuring that our customers do not pay twice for access to Open Access content in our hybrid journals via article processing charges (APCs) and subscription fees.

Details of our subscription pricing policy for 2024 are available here.

What are the benefits of Read & Publish agreements?

Available to libraries and library consortia worldwide, Read & Publish agreements offer a cost-neutral transition to Open Access. Pricing is calculated on the basis of current subscription spend plus the annual average article processing charge (APC) spend over the last three years. Participating institutions benefit from:

  • unlimited access to our three subscription journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology – including the full archive dating back to 1853
  • free and unlimited Open Access publishing for all corresponding authors under CC BY licence terms, with authors retaining copyright, in our subscription journals plus our Open Access journals – Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open
  • support for institutions and authors working to meet funding requirements and to make Open Access the default publishing choice
  • transparent pricing plus ease of administration with no separate APC

How do I find out more about Read & Publish agreements?

Information about our Read & Publish agreements, and a list of participating libraries and library consortia, is available in our Library Hub.

If you have any questions, please contact subscriptions@biologists.com.

Are the Company’s journals providing transparency around pricing and metrics?

As Transformative Journals, from 2021 we will provide more transparency around pricing and publishing metrics in line with plan S requirements.

For more information, also see our author FAQs.


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