Blow to Plan S open access project as ERC withdraws support

An international plan by research funders to spur a shift towards open access publishing has been dealt a blow after one of the world’s most prestigious grant councils withdrew support.

The European Research Council, which has an annual budget of more than €2 billion (£1.8 billion), decided to ditch Plan S over rules that would stop academics publishing in journals not judged to be transitioning to open access.

From next year, researchers who win grants from Plan S backers, which include many European national research councils, plus charitable organisations such as the Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will have to abide by new rules to make sure their results are disseminated openly.

Academics will still be allowed to publish in so-called hybrid journals – which feature a mixture of open and paywalled articles – but only if these publications are moving towards open access and not charging twice over for both subscription fees and article processing charges, known as “double dipping”.

But this restriction has now prompted the ERC to abandon its support for Plan S. “The scientific council considers that this will be detrimental, especially for early career researchers, researchers working in countries with fewer alternative funding opportunities or working in fields in which open access policies are more difficult to implement,” the ERC said in a statement on 21 July.

The ERC has withdrawn its support even though the European Commission – which established the council in 2007 – was instrumental in creating Plan S and remains a backer. But the ERC, led by a scientific council of eminent researchers, fiercely guards its independence.

In response, Coalition S, the group behind Plan S, said that “maintaining the current status quo on hybrid journals will exacerbate inequalities among European researchers, since only those that benefit from generous funding will be able to cover expensive publication fees”.

Earlier this month, it also created a “rights retention strategy”, which it says will allow academics to publish even in subscription journals and remain compliant with Plan S, so long as they make at least some version of the paper free to read immediately.

There has also been pushback against the ERC’s decision from organisations representing early career researchers, who say they have been spoken for without being consulted.

The European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers said it was “surprised” by the decision, had not been consulted, and stood by Plan S.

“We hope the scientific council will clarify how they reached this decision and how early career researchers were engaged in the process,” said the Young Academy of Europe, a network of young scientists. Toma Susi, the organisation’s vice-chair, said on Twitter that he was “appalled by this expected and frankly unwarranted vacillation”.

david.matthews@timeshighereducation.com