cOAlition S is pleased to announce the release of an independent, comprehensive study assessing the impact of Plan S on the scholarly communication landscape. Conducted by scidecode science consulting, following a tender process, this study provides the first assessment of the impact of Plan S five years after its launch.
Titled “Galvanising the Open Access Community: A Study on the Impact of Plan S”, the report combines quantitative analysis with qualitative insights from key stakeholders across the academic publishing ecosystem.
Key highlights
The authors of the study highlight that Plan S has opened new avenues for achieving full and immediate Open Access, successfully placing Open Access high on policymakers’ agendas and bringing publishers to the negotiating table with institutions. The study underscores the potentially game-changing effect of the rights retention strategy, which institutions have since expanded into their own Rights Retention Policies. It also notes the contribution to the current momentum around Diamond Open Access, and the role of cOAlition S in raising awareness of the inequities of article-based charges publishing models.
The authors note that it may be too early to fully assess Plan S’s quantitative impact, as many policies only took effect in 2021 or later, and they recommend revisiting the study in 5-10 years. However, observing significant progress in the push towards full and immediate Open Access since Plan S was first announced and the influential role of the alliance of research funders, they recommend continuing cOAlition S beyond 2025. The authors also emphasize that any meaningful transition towards more sustainable, affordable and equitable publishing will require collaboration among all actors in this ecosystem.
→ The full study, along with its underpinning dataset, can be accessed via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13738479
cOAlition S commissioned this independent study to objectively assess the impact of Plan S. Despite the challenging scope and the inherent difficulties associated with assessing the impact a policy intervention has had in a short timeframe, the insights gleaned from the analysis of scidecode science consulting, the stakeholder feedback and subsequent recommendations will help inform our future plans and the ongoing efforts to achieve full and immediate open access to research publications.
