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In April 2017, ECS celebrated its first annual Free the Science Week, giving the world a preview of what complete open access to peer-reviewed scientific research will look like.
Free the Science Week is part of ECS’s long-term Free the Science initiative, which will provide free access to the peer-reviewed research in the entire ECS Digital Library, not just for a week, but permanently.
Here are just a few insights from the week:
- Articles from the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology were downloaded 30,696 times – that’s the equivalent of every ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology article being downloaded about 20 times.
- Downloads from the Journal of The Electrochemical Society more than doubled in April over last year.
- April 2017 had the second highest number of full text downloads in ECS Digital Library history. The number one month was Open Access Week in October 2016.
Positive proof that opening access to our content increases the usage.
Free the Science Week was inspired by International Open Access Week. Involvement in global events, such as International Open Access Week, remains essential to the discovery and accessibility of our content.
In 2016, ECS promoted Open Access Week, making the ECS Digital Library content free to access.
Comparing the average monthly full text/PDF downloads for October 2016 over 2015, ECS saw a 77 percent increase in usage of the Society’s active publications.
We will once again participate in International Open Access Week this coming fall. From October 23-29, ECS will make over 132,000 scientific articles and abstracts free and accessible to everyone. This year’s theme is “Open in order to…”
