The movement toward open access in scholarly publishing has recently seen so-called transformative agreements emerge as a sustainable path to open for authors, publishers, and institutions. Yet for many researchers looking to become authors in OA journals, questions remain.
On a recent podcast episode of Beyond the Book, CCC’s Christopher Kenneally spoke with American Chemical Society’s James Milne to learn more about the society’s initiative to make Open Access more approachable for researchers in the chemistry setting.
You can listen to the interview below, view the full transcript here, or read some highlights below.
https://beyondthebookcast.com/sorting-out-open-access-for-chemistry-researchers/
Researchers are at the Heart of ACS’s Open Science Resource Center
ACS’s goal as a publisher is to allow researchers to “focus on conducting the research, communicating that research, and then getting back to doing more research,” according to Milne.
Thus, the inception of ACS’s Open Science Resource Center, a new tool to make the publication process easier, so they can focus on research rather than the intricacies of publishing. When researchers use the resource center, they’ll be able to explore range of open access options and open science products, licensing options for research administrators, and more.
As Milne said in the interview, when starting out, researchers often wonder if Open Access publishing is even an option for them. The resource center aims to take the guess work out of the equation.
“Can I publish open access? Do I need to find funding myself, or is it already available? The Open Science Resource Center allows them to find that information very quickly… it makes it a very slick process and takes a lot of bureaucracy out of the process,” he explained.
With Open Access becoming less of a trend and more of a publishing staple, Milne said it’s critical that the American Chemical Society have solutions that are already existing and understood when mandates, such as cOAlition S and Plan S, kick in in 2025.
“It’s all about researcher choice, making sure that they can publish in the prestigious journals that ACS is renowned for, while also benefiting from that great exposure and that simplified way of submitting, getting their papers really high-quality peer review with a focus on excellence, get the excellent author services that we’re renowned for, and get the paper out there and disseminated as widely as possible.”
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