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.
Open Access Week 2018 facilitated record-breaking surges in access of ECS content.
The week drew over 36,440 new visitors to the ECS Digital Library. Visitors new and old downloaded content at an incredible rate. During October 2018, the Society’s active subscription-based publications amassed a total of 385,127 full-text downloads—34% more downloads than in October 2017 (when the annual event was last held), and the most downloads ever received during a single month in the history of the ECS Digital Library.
The Society’s active subscription-based publications also saw swells in access on individual levels:
- The Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) received 81% more downloads in October 2018 than it did, on average, during the year’s preceding months. JES received 38% more downloads in October 2018 than it did in October 2017.
- The ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology (JSS) received 66% more downloads in October 2018 than it did, on average, during the year’s preceding months. This was the best month for JSS downloads since July 2017.
- ECS Transactions (ECST) received 149% more downloads in October 2018 than it did, on average, during the year’s preceding months. ECST received 28% more downloads in October 2018 than it did in October 2017.
These exceptional upswings in usage are indicative of two key things: (1) the far-reaching value of ECS publications, and (2) the economic barriers that continue to obstruct scientists around the world from access to high-quality, peer-reviewed research.
ECS participates in Open Access Week to showcase the potential of its Free the Science initiative, which aims to eliminate these barriers for researchers through an embrace of open science and transformative change in the traditional models of communicating scholarly research. The Society is committed to its long-term goal to make its publishing model 100% open access, but cannot reach this goal without the support of its readers and donors.
The Society thanks all the readers who participated in Open Access Week 2018 by downloading ECS content, and encourages all those who believe in the open dissemination of science to donate to the Free the Science Fund. Help make ECS research free to access all year round.
