Event report


OA transparency report launched at Berlin conference


An independent report aiming to improve the transparency of open access (OA) prices and services is calling for a customer-centric, collaborative and pragmatic approach to the issue.


The report, published by Information


Power and released at the APE conference in Berlin, is the outcome of a project funded by Wellcome and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on behalf of cOAlition S to inform the development of Plan S. During the project funders, libraries, publishers, and universities worked together to inform the development of a framework to provide information about OA services and prices in a transparent, practical, and insightful way.


The framework provides opportunities to build better awareness of, and appreciation by, customers of the value of their services, and to demonstrate publisher commitment to open business models and business cultures. cOAlition S aims to help make the nature and prices of OA publishing services more transparent, and enable conversations and comparisons that will build confidence in customers that prices are fair and reasonable. Addressing cOAlition S, the report emphasises that the introduction of a new reporting requirement needs to be organised with clear implementation guidelines, and a proper plan for testing, development, release, review, and refinement. It recommends an iterative approach to implementation, with


a pilot as the next step. cOAlition S has accepted the recommendation that such a framework be piloted before implementation and agreed a project extension to pilot and refine the framework in the first quarter of 2020. Participants include Annual Reviews, Brill, The Company of Biologists, EMBO Press, European Respiratory Society, Hindawi, PLOS, and SpringerNature. Other publishers are welcome and invited to express interest in joining the pilot via: info@informationpower. co.uk.


While funders, libraries, and library consortia


were broadly supportive of the work, many publishers – both mixed model and OA-only – expressed significant concerns about: • Being told what or how to price, or how to communicate about price;


• Greater transparency with competitors giving rise to anti-trust issues, or conflict with fiduciary duties to charity/ shareholders;


• Any focus on costs, because publishers say prices reflect the market and the value provided and not only costs;


• Usefulness, as publishers record price APE to move into hands of next generation


Arnoud de Kemp, founder of the APE conference in Berlin has announced plans to pass organisation of the event into new hands. Following APE 2020, De Kemp


reported that it is running more successfully than ever. Now, he says that, after conversations with different parties from within the industry, a solution has been found. In Autumn last year,


representatives of the Max- Planck-Society, of the Berlin Universities, the Berlin- Brandenburg Academy of


Sciences and the Walter de Gruyter Foundation met and declared an interest in ensuring that the APE remained an independent discussion platform. ‘The conference will remain in Berlin and contribute to the city’s growing role as a centre of international research excellence,’ said De Kemp. ‘A committee with


representatives of the above- mentioned organisations, which I will moderate, will put the conference program together. The logistics will


28 Research Information February/March 2020


be taken on by the Walter de Gruyter Foundation, which is an independent charitable foundation that has been sponsoring research projects since 2004. The foundation will also


support a further project to assist early career researchers in their academic publishing endeavors. Any surpluses from the


conference will be invested in this “academy of scientific publishing”. De Kemp concluded: ‘I will


continue to be directly involved


with the conference over the next few years, but my participation will decrease each year until the transformation is complete. ‘I am convinced that we


collectively can ensure that the APE Conference will continue to be an event at which researchers, librarians, publishers, decision- makers and students can openly exchange ideas relevant to academic publishing in an open, relaxed atmosphere.’


l Photos and videos from APE 2020 will be available at www.ape2020.eu


@researchinfo | www.researchinformation.info


and service information in different ways, and costs and practices vary enormously between houses, subject areas, and titles; and


• A range of negative outcomes including the imposition of price caps, downward pressure on prices, or funders and libraries ruling out-of-scope services that are valued by researchers or societies or that are important for business continuity and innovation.


Robert Kiley, head of open research at Wellcome and interim cOAlition S coordinator, said: ‘On behalf of cOAlition S, we are delighted to see all stakeholders engage in the development of this transparency pricing framework and support the idea of road- testing it through a pilot. ‘Based on the outcome of this pilot,


cOAlition S will decide how to use this framework, or a refinement of it, together with other models for inclusion in the requirement for those journals where Plan S requirements apply.’


lFor more details visit https://openathens.org/access-lab-2020/


Tim Gillett


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