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…)

The Electrochemical Society aims to advance theory and practice at the forefront of electrochemical and solid state science and technology, and allied subjects. To better serve the needs of researchers, scientists, and engineers across the field, we’d like to gather your thoughts on open access, membership, and the ECS quarterly magazine, Interface. Your feedback will inform the future direction of ECS programs.

Let us know your thoughts

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ECS celebrated International Open Access Week 2018 by giving the world a preview of what complete open access to peer-reviewed scientific research looks like. ECS took down the paywall October 22-28, 2018 to the entire ECS Digital Library, making over 141,000 scientific articles and abstracts free and accessible to everyone.

Take a few minutes to tell us more about your Open Access Week experience.

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To recognize the innovative research gaining attention across the diverse span of its topical interest areas, the Society highlights the top five most-downloaded journal articles in each TIA during each quarter of the year.

The most-downloaded Journal of The Electrochemical Society articles by TIA during the third quarter of 2018 (July through September) are listed below.

Highlights are based on articles published since January 1, 2016.

ALL of the articles listed below are open access.

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To recognize the innovative research gaining attention across the diverse span of its topical interest areas, the Society highlights the top five most-downloaded journal articles in each TIA during each quarter of the year.

The most-downloaded ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology articles by TIA during the third quarter of 2018 (July through September) are listed below.

Highlights are based on articles published since January 1, 2016.

ALL of the articles listed below are open access.

(more…)

ECS is pleased to announce that articles published in its two peer-reviewed journals, the Journal of The Electrochemical Society and the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, are being indexed in Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science (WoS) faster than ever before—on a rolling, article-by-article basis.

How did it work before? Until recently, WoS indexed ECS journals upon issue close, and it could take about six weeks from the close of an issue for receipt/delivery to WoS. This means if the first article in an issue was published at the beginning of the month, and the last published at the end of the month, the first article could go 10 weeks or more before being indexed in WoS. (more…)