NEWS

Piloting a New Open Access Model: Subscribe to Open

To help pave the way for a broader Open Science ecosystem, Karger Publishers is introducing Subscribe to Open (S2O), converting two subscription journals to Open Access, and making three additional publications ???“Transformative Journals.”

Karger Publishers takes its “Open for Open” approach to the very core of its activities, continuously exploring both well-established and new avenues alike to advance Open Science. The Switzerland-based medical and scientific publisher is now piloting an alternative OA business model known as Subscribe to Open (S2O), which was originally developed by Annual Reviews. Accepting submissions in S2O for 2023 are the journals Developmental Neuroscience and Pediatric Neurosurgery, part of Karger’s Neurology and Neuroscience portfolio.

Under S2O, instead of charging authors an Article Processing Charge (APC), Karger sustains publishing costs through subscriptions from libraries, leveraging existing funds and infrastructure. If subscriptions are renewed to a target level, Karger will make that year’s volume OA, meaning that it is completely free of barriers to publish, read, share and re-use.

“S2O may provide an alternative way for libraries and institutions to actively contribute to the overall Open Science transition, without the need for substantial systemic changes in administration or spending,” says Christian Box, Karger’s Head of Academic and Research Markets.

The subscription process will be repeated every year, so future volumes may remain fully OA or return to a hybrid model including a paid option to publish articles OA. “We’re very excited to keep advancing to Open in 2023 and especially, to provide our community with the chance to test S2O with us,” said Open Science Manager Beth Bayley. “Expanding OA sustainably while supporting authors, libraries and institutions in their needs is a top priority for us.”

A Continuous Effort Towards More Open Access

In the intricate Open Science ecosystem, Karger understands that no one single solution is suitable for everyone, and is also expanding the roster of fully Gold OA and Transformative Journals in 2023. The journals European Surgical Research and Neuroimmunomodulation will be flipped to fully OA, bringing the percentage of fully OA Karger publications to over 40% of Karger’s total portfolio of research journals.

On the Transformative Journals front, Karger added three more journals to its program: Digestive Diseases, Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation, and Journal of Vascular Research. The Transformative Journal status aims to help these journals fast-track to OA through measures such as a reduced hybrid OA fee and a commitment to flip at the latest when 75% of research articles are published OA.

karger.com