Free the Science Week celebrates those working to eliminate barriers to access for researchers around the world.

Yesterday’s blog post discussed ECS’s Author Choice Open Access program, which enables many authors to publish open access at no cost to them.

But did you know that the Society also supports green open access?

ECS’s green open access policy allows you to freely and immediately share the articles you publish in ECS journals without using an open access article credit or paying an article processing charge.

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With Free the Science Week in full swing, readers have free, uninhibited access to the more than 151,000 articles and abstracts in the ECS Digital Library until Sunday, April 7.

But the Free the Science initiative isn’t just about making research free to access; it’s also about making research free to publish.

So one of the best ways you can celebrate Free the Science Week is by making plans to publish your next ECS article Author Choice Open Access.

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Not sure what to download during Free the Science Week?

Over 37% of the ECS journal content published since 2014 is open access—free to access all year round. During Free the Science Week, which runs until April 7, you have free access to the other 63% of this content (and much more) ordinarily found behind the paywall.

The lists below compile this year’s most-read articles typically found behind the paywall from the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, and ECS Transactions.

Download them while they’re free to access!

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ECS’s third annual Free the Science Week kicks off today! From now through Sunday, April 7, you have unrestricted access to all of the research ever published in the ECS Digital Library.

Here are some tips for navigating the digital library’s more than 151,000 articles and abstracts—and making the most of the week of free access.

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The urgency for open access publishing has been felt for some time. The strain of paywalls and expensive scholarly publishing business models have limited access to academic papers and research, causing some to take matters into their own hands.

The Electrochemical Society is one of those to take action. Each year, ECS participates in International Open Access Week by taking down paywalls to the entire ECS Digital Library, giving the world a preview of what complete open access to peer-reviewed scientific research will look like. ECS is also the founder of the Free the Science initiative, which aims to make the Society’s high quality, peer-reviewed research free for everyone to read and free for authors to publish. In addition, in honor of Free the Science, the Society also offers another paywall-free week to the ECS Digital Library. This year marking the Society’s 3rd annual Free the Science Week, taking place April 1-7, where thousands of scientific articles and abstracts will become free to access.

And, it looks like ECS is far from alone in these efforts. (more…)

Plan S, created in a move to crack down on scholarly journals’ paywalls, is receiving pushback from scientists who call the plan “too risky for science.” According to Science Magazine, the scientists put their feelings into writing in an open letter backed by 800 signatories who say they support OA—which would make papers free and available to all—but not like this. (more…)

With top academic publishers like Elsevier holding a 35-40% profit margin and for-profit academic publishers earning $25.2 billion a year, Jason Schmitt began to wonder about the consequences of paywalls on access to scientific research. His questions led to his October 2018 documentary film, Paywall: The Business of Scholarship, where he questioned publishing practices and the public’s limited access to information.

According to IMDb, while filming, Schmitt says he was struck by the global energy and enthusiasm toward open access and the strong resistance to the movement by many of the world’s top publishers. “Further, I found that the funds paid to academic publishers are heavily burdening the higher education market, contributing to the rising tuition fees at all universities, the closure of many institutions and, ultimately, limiting science and progress.” (more…)

Stuart Taylor Credit: OASPA

The Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association recently sat down with Stuart Taylor, publishing director of the Royal Society and their very own, newly appointed OASPA board member, for an interview. Taylor holds 30 years of experience in publishing and has witnessed many changes within the industry, such as the introduction of the open access model.

“I began in the commercial sector. Back then, open access wasn’t a topic I was aware of at all and the concept of open access publishing hadn’t even been invented,” says Taylor.

By the end of the 1990s, however, Taylor says the rumblings of an open access model began to make its presence within the publishing community, which at that time, “Was seen only as a threat to commercial companies. Something to be fought or at least contained.” (more…)

During International Open Access Week 2018 (October 22-28), an event organized by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), the Society took down the paywall to the ECS Digital Library for the fourth consecutive year, making over 141,000 scientific articles and abstracts free and accessible to everyone.

If you participated in the event, please take a moment to tell us more about your experience.

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In honor of International Open Access Week, from October 22-18, The Scholarly Kitchen wrote a two-part series focusing on both publishers and researchers from disadvantaged global research landscapes. The following publishers and researchers share their thoughts, concerns, successes, and setbacks on their journey to complete access for all. (more…)