http://scoap3.org Latest news from Scoap3 en-us SCOAP3 is pleased to announce that, through a recent Market Survey, publishing partners to accompany SCOAP3 in the implementation of its Open Access initiative have been identified. These partners, including leading publishers of high-quality peer-reviewed journals carrying content in the field of High-Energy Physics, have agreed to the key SCOAP3 principles: SCOAP3 content will be made available Open Access in perpetuity, with wide re-use licenses; Subscription fees to journals carrying SCOAP3 content will be reduced (or eliminated if the journals become entirely Open Access) to allow libraries to re-direct these funds to SCOAP3, and package prices will be adjusted accordingly. The publishers include: American Physical Society, Elsevier, Europhysics Letters Association, Hindawi Publishing Corporation, Jagiellonian University, Nature Publishing Group, The Physical Society of Japan/Oxford University Press, SIGMA, SISSA, Societa Italiana di Fisica, Springer. In the next phase of the process, an invitation to tender will be sent to the publishers, for contracts to be placed in the course of 2012, with services commencing 1 January 2013. http://scoap3.org/news/news89.html http://scoap3.org/news/news89.html Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:00 GMT The SCOAP3 partnership is moving towards the implementation of its Open Access initiative. An international team of experts from institutions participating in SCOAP3 has prepared a detailed description of the peer-review and open access services that the consortium intends to purchase through high-quality peer-reviewed journals, the conditions for the provision of these services and the implications on existing licensing agreements. CERN has now issued a Market Survey for the benefit of SCOAP3. It is publicly available at: http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1384149 Publishers of high-quality peer-reviewed journals carrying content in the field of High-Energy Physics are invited to answer to this Market Survey, whose purpose is to identify potential bidders for the provision of peer-review and open access services to SCOAP3. The following phase of the process will be an invitation to tender to qualified providers by the end of 2011, for contracts to be placed during 2012 with services commencing 1 January 2013. The deadline for interested publishers to answer the Market Survey is October 19th. http://scoap3.org/news/news88.html http://scoap3.org/news/news88.html Fri, 23 Sep 2011 11:00:00 GMT The High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), National Institute of Informatics (NII) and Coordinating Committee for Japanese University Libraries (CCJUL) have jointly established a partnership with the SCOAP3 initiative. Following the earlier support of the Japanese scientific community, KEK, NII and CCJUL have jointly pledged financial support for the Japanese share of the SCOAP3 budget envelope. The partnership of the Japanese community and SCOAP3 is extremely important for the success of this initiative which now counts supporters in 28 countries in Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Partners worldwide have collectively pledged 80.5% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope of 10 million Euros/year, fairly shared according to their contribution to High-Energy Physics literature. Following a recent consensus decision, the SCOAP3 partnership is now in moving forward with the implementation of its Open Access initiative, while further partnership are built in Asia, South America and the U.S. http://scoap3.org/news/news87.html http://scoap3.org/news/news87.html Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:00:00 GMT At a recent meeting of the SCOAP3 partnership, a consensus decision was reached to move this initiative forward toward its implementation phase. A crucial step of this process will be an invitation to the potential SCOAP3 publishing partners to tender for the peer-review, Open Access and other editorial services for the field of High-Energy Physics. In the last few weeks the newly formed SCOAP3 steering committee, representing the broad cross-section of the SCOAP3 partnership, and a technical working group of international library experts have made progress in preparing the SCOAP3 call for tender. The first step will be a public Market Survey which will engage the SCOAP3 publishing partners, describe in details the implementation of the SCOAP3 model and examine opportunities for price reduction for partner libraries who will re-direct their subscriptions to SCOAP3. SCOAP3 anticipates to issue this public market survey in the coming weeks. http://scoap3.org/news/news86.html http://scoap3.org/news/news86.html Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:00:00 GMT On April 6th 2011 representatives from institutions in the global SCOAP3 partnership convened to assess the progress of this Open Access initiative. Large publishers in the field, APS, Elsevier, IOPp, SISSA and Springer, shared their opinions on the SCOAP3 model and their intention to participate in a SCOAP3 tender aiming to convert to Open Access the high-quality peer-reviewed literature in the field, conditional on reassurances concerning the long-term sustainability of SCOAP3. SCOAP3 partners reaffirmed the importance of a mutual understanding with the publishing industry on price reduction of large subscription packages for partner libraries in countries that are part of the initiative. All presentations, transcripts and videos are available on the SCOAP3 web site. Delegates to the meeting heard statements from countries currently working towards joining SCOAP3 and discussed the opportunities and challenges ahead. The meeting reached consensus to move SCOAP3 towards an operational phase. A first concrete step will be the start of a tendering process, conditional on further countries and partners joining the SCOAP3 consortium. A steering committee, representing the broad cross-section of the SCOAP3 partnership, is being formed to steer the initiative through this and the following phases. A technical working group will assess opportunities for price reduction for partner libraries. http://scoap3.org/news/news85.html http://scoap3.org/news/news85.html Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:00:00 GMT Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, has addressed a meeting of the stakeholders of the global SCOAP3 initiative held at CERN on April 6th, 2011. In her address she wished SCOAP3 a “…success [that] will be more than just a proof of concept. It will show us a passable way into the future of scientific publishing that others can follow”. Commissioner Kroes continued mentioning that “Access to scientific results for free, for all, for ever is a compelling vision indeed”. She recognized that “free access for readers does not mean writing or publishing is free”, adding that “for open access to scientific publications and data, the benefits definitely outweigh the costs” and “all stakeholders should be proactive in adapting to this new open environment”. A full transcript of the statement is available on the SCOAP3 web site. A recording of the address can be also downloaded in low-resolution and high-resolution http://scoap3.org/news/news84.html http://scoap3.org/news/news84.html Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:00:00 GMT The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) has joined the SCOAP3 consortium on behalf of Korea, the first Asian partner in this international Open Access initiative. With Korea, SCOAP3 has established partnerships in 27 countries in Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. These partners have collectively pledged 73% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope of 10 million Euros/year, fairly shared according to their contribution to High-Energy Physics literature. The SCOAP3 initiative is now planning its next steps to convert to Open Access the entire literature of this field, while further partnership are built in the Asia, South America and the U.S. http://scoap3.org/news/news83.html http://scoap3.org/news/news83.html Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:00:00 GMT The Moroccan Centre National Pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique (National Center for Scientific and Technological Research) has joined SCOAP3 on behalf of Morocco, the first African country to do so. With Morocco, the SCOAP3 consortium has now established partnerships in as many as 25 countries in Africa, Europe, North America, Australasia and the Middle East. So far, these partners have collectively pledged over 7 millions Euros per annum towards this innovative Open Access initiative to convert to Open Access the entire literature of the field of High-Energy Physics, corresponding to 71% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope. As soon as further partnerships are built in Asia and South America, and more U.S. libraries of all sizes will pledge their support, the SCOAP3 international initiative will be ready to move to its next steps: the establishment of an international governance structure and a call for tender for leading publishers in the field of High Energy Physics to convert their journals to Open Access in a way transparent to authors. http://scoap3.org/news/news82.html http://scoap3.org/news/news82.html Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:00:00 GMT The Libraries of the major Chinese research institutions active in High-Energy Physics have written an open letter in support of the SCOAP33 initiative, while working on its implementation in China. This is a crucial step in the extension of the SCOAP3 partnership in Asia. Today, SCOAP3 counts partners in 24 countries across the world, which have collectively pledged over 7 Million Euros per annum to SCOAP3, over 70% of its projected budget envelope. A partnership with China would raise these pledge of a further 6%, bringing SCOAP3 much closer to its next step: the constitution of an international governing board and a call for tender to publishers in the field to convert their journals to Open Access. The text of the open letter follows. An Open Letter to Support SCOAP3 Initiative in Higher Energy Physics November 11, 2010 Open access to scientific information is an important mechanism to promote timely and fast dissemination of research output and to ensure the rights of public access to knowledge. Open access is also an effective means for science and research to support education, facilitate innovation, and better serve the society. SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics) is a leading and innovative initiative by the international high energy physics (HEP) field to transfer the key journals in HEP into open access publishing journals, thus ensuring the open access to HEP knowledge by the world. We, the undersigned libraries, represent the major institutions in mainland China engaging in HEP research and in subscription of key international HEP journals. We support the SCOAP3 initiative, and will joint request that the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST) and the National Science and Technology Library (NSTL) under MOST join the SCOAP3 initiative through the national scientific literature platform program. We will support NSTL to participate in SCOAP3 activities on behalf of Chinese libraries, and will work with NSTL to facilitate the implementation of the SCOAP3 initiative in China. Library of Peking University Library of Tsinghua University Library of Zhejiang University Library of Chinese University of Science and Technology Library of Fudan University Library of Beijing Normal University Library of Nankai University Library of Lanzhou University Library of Nanjing Normal University Library of Huazhong Normal University National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences http://scoap3.org/news/news81.html http://scoap3.org/news/news81.html Mon, 15 Nov 2010 07:00:00 GMT JINR becomes the first organisation in Russia to pledge financial support to the SCOAP3 project to convert to Open Access the literature in High Energy Physics. This partnership is very important for the success of this novel Open Access initiative, which now has gathered support in 24 countries across the world. Literally hundreds of partners, from research institutions to funding agencies, from library consortia to individual libraries, have collectively pledged over 7 Million Euros per annum to SCOAP3, over 70% of its projected budget envelope. The SCOAP3 initiative is now getting closer to embarking in next steps, the establishment of an international governing board and a call for tender to publishers in the field, as soon as further partnerships are built in Eastern Europe, Asia and South America and more U.S. libraries will pledge their support. Note for editors: JINR is an intergovernmental scientific research organisation focussing on theoretical and experimental studies in elementary particle physics, nuclear physics, and condensed matter physics. It has 18 Member States: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. http://scoap3.org/news/news80.html http://scoap3.org/news/news80.html Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:00:00 GMT KEK, the Japanese High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, has issued a statement of support for SCOAP3: KEK strongly supports the spirit of the SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing) project for its comprehensive approach to Open Access, taking into considerations that the price of journals has been rising and stays at the very expensive standard, so that the universities and institutes face difficulty to secure the budget for subscriptions. KEK endorses the role of journals as the possible place of the publication for variety of researchers in many areas of the world, various generations of researchers and variety of scientific ideas. Based on this course, KEK has been striving to consolidate the publication system of the Japanese physical journals toward the full open access. It is crucial for KEK to make an alliance with CERN for paving the way of new paradigms for the distribution of the knowledge of physics, and for opening to the SCOAP3 initiative. The support of the Japanese physics community for SCOAP3 is very important, giving the initiative a truly global flavour across Asia, America and Europe. Researchers worldwide support this initiative, and the first results of the LHC experiments are already appearing Open Access and under Creative Common licenses in leading journals in the field (see here and here). http://scoap3.org/news/news79.html http://scoap3.org/news/news79.html Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:00:00 GMT Today CERN/SCOAP3 was presented the fifth SPARC Europe Award for Outstanding Achievements in Scholarly Communications Rolf Heuer, CERN Director General, said: “I am honoured by this prize which recognises our vision of Scholarly Communication. It is inspired by the same principles that our community has developed to tackle global scientific challenges: collaboration; consensus; innovation; openness; technology transfer and Open Access to knowledge". These principles are indeed embodied by SCOAP3, which is built on consensus and partnership: among scientists, who clearly stated their support and need for Open Access ; among hundreds of libraries from 24 countries , who pledged support to the initiative; among leading publishers in the field, who demonstrate willingness to engage with these principles and published the first LHC physics results Open Access under Creative Common licences. http://scoap3.org/news/news78.html http://scoap3.org/news/news78.html Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:00:00 GMT In the last weeks, four U.S. libraries have expressed their support to the SCOAP3 initiative: The Bridge (Carleton College, St Olaf College), the State University of New York at Stonybrook, Tufts University and the University of West Virginia So far, over 150 U.S. libraries and library consortia have pledged a total of over 3.2 Million dollars to the SCOAP3 initiative. This is almost the entire contribution expected from partners in the United States. Worldwide, SCOAP3 partners in 24 countries collectively pledged around 7 Million Euros. These pledges represent about 70% of the SCOAP3 funding envelope, and the initiative is getting close to its next steps to convert to Open Access the entire literature of the field of High-Energy Physics. U.S. libraries of all sizes can support SCOAP3 and accelerate change in scholarly communication, bringing SCOAP3 to its next concrete steps, establishing an international governing board and engaging publishers in the field in this new global partnership. The SPARC and ACRL FAQs give details on how to help. http://scoap3.org/news/news77.html http://scoap3.org/news/news77.html Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:00:00 GMT The Národni technická knihovna (NTK), the Czech National Technical Library has joined SCOAP3 on behalf of the Czech Republic. With the Czech Republic, the SCOAP3 consortium has now established partnerships in as many as 24 countries in America, Australasia, Europe and the Middle East. So far, these partners have collectively pledged around 7 millions Euros per annum towards this innovative Open Access initiative to convert to Open Access the entire literature of the field of High-Energy Physics, corresponding to 70% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope. The SCOAP3 initiative is now getting closer to embarking in its next steps: the establishment of an international governing board and a call for tender to publishers in the field. These will happen as soon as further partnerships are built in Asia and South America, and more U.S. libraries of all sizes will pledge their support. http://scoap3.org/news/news76.html http://scoap3.org/news/news76.html Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:00:00 GMT Earlier this week the Large Hadron Collider at CERN started high-energy operation, heralding a new era of scientific research, which will yield a rich harvest of scientific results. Meanwhile, results from a earlier, lower-energy test of the accelerator in December 2009 have been already been published: by the ATLAS collaboration in Elsevier's Physics Letters B, the CMS collaboration in Sissa Journal of High Energy Physics and the ALICE collaboration in Springer's European Physical Journal C. These three articles are a remarkable advance in scholarly communication in the field: they are published Open Access with no fees for authors; CERN has retained the copyright for the benefit of the scientific collaborations; they are made available under a Creative Common Licence. This collaboration with major publishers in the field signifies the engagement of the publishing industry to Open Access in High-Energy Physics, the ultimate goal of SCOAP3. While these articles appeared Open Access thanks to special agreements between publishers and CERN, the host laboratory of the LHC, the SCOAP3 effort aims to convert all the literature of the field to Open Access, at no costs for authors. A budget envelope of 10 Million Euros/year is estimated for the operation, and about 70% of these funds have been so far pledged by partners in 23 countries. SCOAP3 is now discussion new partnerships in Asia, South America and with U.S. libraries of all sizes in order to proceed to the next phase of the initiative: a call for tender to publishers to provide Open Access and peer-review to the first high-energy results of the LHC expected later this year and all other theoretical and experimental articles in the field. http://scoap3.org/news/news75.html http://scoap3.org/news/news75.html Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:00:00 GMT The Fundação para a Computação Científica Nacional (FCCN) has joined SCOAP3 on behalf of Portugal. With Portugal, SCOAP3 has now established partnerships in 23 countries in America, Australasia, Europe and the Middle East. So far, partners have collectively pledged 68% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope, of 10 million Euros/year, to be fairly shared among countries contributing to the High-Energy Physics literature. The SCOAP3 initiative is getting closer to embarking in next steps to convert to Open Access the entire literature of the field of High-Energy Physics, as soon as more U.S. libraries will pledge their support and further partnerships are built in Asia and South America. http://scoap3.org/news/news74.html http://scoap3.org/news/news74.html Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:00:00 GMT In the last two weeks nine more U.S. libraries have expressed their support to the SCOAP3 initiative: Allegheny College Auburn University Bowdoin College Southern Illinois University Carbondale University of Alabama at Birmingham University of Maryland University of Nevada, Las Vegas Vanderbilt University Wayne State University Over 150 U.S. libraries and library consortia have pledged over 3.1 Million dollars to the SCOAP3 initiative. Worldwide, SCOAP3 partners in 23 countries collectively pledged 6.8 Million Euros. These pledges represent over two thirds of the SCOAP3 funding envelope, and the initiative is getting close to its next steps to convert to Open Access the entire literature of the field of High-Energy Physics. Several more U.S. libraries are now considering supporting SCOAP3, which needs help from libraries of all sizes to bring change in scholarly communication: the SPARC and ACRL FAQs give details on how to help. http://scoap3.org/news/news73.html http://scoap3.org/news/news73.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:00:00 GMT Over the last weeks seven more U.S. university libraries expressed their support to the SCOAP3 initiative: Indiana University, Pennsylvania State University, Michigan State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rockefeller University, Trinity University and the University of Notre Dame. Worldwide, SCOAP3 partners in 23 countries collectively pledged over 6.6 Million Euros, or 9.5 Million dollars, corresponding to 66% of the SCOAP3 funding envelope to convert to Open Access the entire literature of the field of High-Energy Physics. The U.S. are the leading country to support the SCOAP3 initiative with over a hundred U.S. libraries and libraries consortia pledging a total of 3 Million dollars, corresponding to 20% of the SCOAP3 funding envelope. However, before the initiative can proceed, more support is needed in the U.S. and beyond, with about 500'000$ of pledges expected from U.S. libraries of all sizes: the SPARC and ACRL FAQs and webcast give more details on how to help this groundbreaking initiative to transform the landscape of scholarly communication. http://scoap3.org/news/news72.html http://scoap3.org/news/news72.html Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:00:00 GMT There is great excitement in the High-Energy Physics community for the successful start of the operations of the LHC collider. This scientific watershed is relevant for the Open Access community as well: the first LHC physics results, from the ALICE Collaboration, have just been published by Springer in the European Physical Journal C. This article is Open Access and is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Recently, another group working at the LHC, the CMS collaboration, prepared 23 articles describing the performance of their experimental apparatus. These are submitted to arXiv.org, and they will also appear as Open Access publications on the SISSA/IOPp Journal of Instrumentation. These articles signify once more the commitment of the LHC experimental teams, counting about 10'000 scientists from over 80 countries, to privilege Open Access for the dissemination of their scientific results. They also testify the willingness of publishers in the field to engage with the community and devise win-win solutions which accommodate Open Access options without charging fees to authors, while waiting for the SCOAP3 model to become operational. While these articles appeared Open Access thanks to special agreements between publishers and CERN, the host laboratory of the LHC, the SCOAP3 effort aims to convert all the literature of the field to Open Access, at no costs for authors. A budget envelope of 10 Million Euros/year is estimated for the operation, and over 65% of these funds have been so far pledged by partners in 23 countries. We hope to soon welcome more partners in Asia, South America and among U.S. libraries of all sizes in order to proceed to the next phase of the initiative: a call for tender to publishers to provide Open Access and peer-review to all publication of the field, for first results of the LHC and beyond. http://scoap3.org/news/news71.html http://scoap3.org/news/news71.html Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:00:00 GMT In recent weeks five more U.S. university library have expressed their support to the SCOAP3 initiative: Carnegie Mellon University Creighton University Macalester College Northeastern University and the University of Kentucky. As of today, SCOAP3 has received pledges for over 2.8 Million dollars from over a hundred U.S. libraries and libraries consortia. Worldwide, SCOAP3 [partners in 22 countries collectively pledged over 6.5 Million Euros, 65% of SCOAP3 funding envelope to convert to Open Access the entire literature of the field of High-Energy Physics. Before the initiative can proceed, more support is needed from U.S. libraries of all sizes and leading libraries worldwide: the SPARC and ACRL FAQs and webcast give more details on how to support. http://scoap3.org/news/news70.html http://scoap3.org/news/news70.html Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:00:00 GMT Five more U.S. libraries have signed the SCOAP3 Expression of Interest: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, SUNY Albany, SUNY Buffalo, the University of Michigan, and the Utah State University. With these new partners, SCOAP3 has received pledges for a total of 2.7 Million dollars from leading U.S. libraries and library consortia. Worldwide, SCOAP3 has received pledges for 6.5 Million Euros, 65% of its funding envelope, from partners in 22 countries. Before it can move forward, SCOAP3 needs more support from U.S. libraries, of all sizes. The SPARC and ACRL FAQs and webcast give more details on how you can help. http://scoap3.org/news/news69.html http://scoap3.org/news/news69.html Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT Six more U.S. libraries have signed the SCOAP3 Expression of Interest: East Carolina University, Savannah River National Laboratory, the University of Iowa, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, the University of Mississippi and Wake Forest University. These new SCOAP3 partners join a long list of supporters in the U.S. who have collectively pledged about 3/4 of the projected U.S. contribution to SCOAP3. Before it can move forward, SCOAP3 needs more support from U.S. libraries, of all sizes. The SPARC and ACRL FAQs and webcast give more details on how you can help. http://scoap3.org/news/news68.html http://scoap3.org/news/news68.html Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:00:00 GMT Material from recent SCOAP3 events is now online: - Slides from the July 11th forum at ALA - Slides from the June 14th forum at SLA - Slides and video of the June 10th SPARC and ACRL webcast. More information on SCOAP3 is also in the SPARC and ACRL FAQs for U.S. libraries http://scoap3.org/news/news67.html http://scoap3.org/news/news67.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT The SCOAP3 Open Access initiative has a unique potential to transform scholarly communication. It offers an opportunity to U.S. libraries of all sizes to experiment with Open Access in a cost-neutral fashion and make a real difference in Open Access. Come to the SCOAP3 forum at ALA in Chicago on July 11th to learn how you can get involved! SCOAP3 aims to convert High-Energy Physics literature to Open Access by re-directing current subscription expenditures to a consortium that will centrally pay journals for peer-review and other editorial services, making articles Open Access. This is an innovative, cost-neutral, way to achieve Open Access without incurring in additional author fees. SCOAP3 has so far collected pledges for a total of 9 Million $/year from partners in 22 countries, corresponding to 63% of its worldwide budget envelope. In the U.S., leading libraries and library consortia signed an Expression of Interest pledging to support the SCOAP3 initiative, if successful. These pledges represent 2.5 Million $/year, over 70% of the expected U.S. contribution. However, additional pledges for about 1 Million $/year are still needed to allow the initiative to move forward. This forum, hosted by SCOAP3 spokesperson Salvatore Mele from CERN, complements the recent SCOAP3 ACRL and SPARC FAQs and webcast. It will present an overview of the SCOAP3 initiative and answer questions on the way the consortium will work. The ALA event will take place on Saturday, July 11th 2009, 12:00pm-2:00pm at the Hyatt Regency, 151 East Wacker Drive, Truffles Room. Attendance is free and a light lunch will be available, but participants are kindly invited to register online at http://tinyurl.com/scoap3-at-ala where questions can be submitted in advance. http://scoap3.org/news/news66.html http://scoap3.org/news/news66.html Thu, 01 Jul 2009 08:00:00 GMT The FinELib has joined SCOAP3 on behalf of Finland. With Finland, the SCOAP3 membership now counts 21 countries in America, Australasia, Europe and the Middle East, as well as large number of leading U.S. libraries and an international organization. These partners have collectively pledged 63% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope of 10 million Euros/year. http://scoap3.org/news/news65.html http://scoap3.org/news/news65.html Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT The SCOAP3 Open Access initiative has a unique potential to transform scholarly communication. It offers an opportunity to U.S. libraries of all sizes to experiment with Open Access in a cost-neutral fashion and make a real difference in Open Access. Come to the SCOAP3 forum at SLA in Washington on June 14th to learn how you can get involved! SCOAP3 aims to convert High-Energy Physics literature to Open Access by re-directing current subscription expenditures to a consortium that will centrally pay journals for peer-review and other editorial services, making articles Open Access. This is an innovative, cost-neutral, way to achieve Open Access without incurring in additional author fees. SCOAP3 has so far collected pledges for a total of 8.8 Million $/year from partners in 21 countries, corresponding to 63% of its worldwide budget envelope. In the U.S., leading libraries and library consortia signed an Expression of Interest pledging to support the SCOAP3 initiative, if successful. These pledges total 2.5 Million $/year, over 70% of the expected U.S. contribution. However, additional pledges for about 1 Million $/year are still needed to allow the initiative to move forward. This forum complements the recent ACRL and SPARC SCOAP3 FAQs. It will present an overview of the SCOAP3 initiative and answer questions on the way the consortium will work. Attendance is free but participants are kindly invited to register online at http://tinyurl.com/scoap3-at-sla where questions can be submitted in advance. The event will take place on Sunday, June 14th 2009, 3:00pm-4:30pm at the Henley Park Hotel, 926 Massachusetts Ave, Eton room. http://scoap3.org/news/news64.html http://scoap3.org/news/news64.html Wed, 27 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT Five more U.S. libraries have pledged to re-direct their current expenditures on High-Energy Physics journals to the SCOAP3 consortium. The new SCOAP3 partners are Arizona State University, Northern Illinois University, Texas AM University, the University of Chicago and the University of Georgia. Libraries and consortia in the U.S. have so far collectively pledged a total of about 2.5 Million $/year to SCOAP3. The expected U.S. contribution to SCOAP3 is of 3.5 Million $/year, and pledges for one Million $/year more are needed before the initiative can move on to its next steps. Worldwide, 63% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope has been pledged by partners in 21 countries. U.S. libraries interested in becoming SCOAP3 partners and making a real difference in Open Access and scholarly communication can find further information in the SPARC SCOAP3 FAQ. http://scoap3.org/news/news63.html http://scoap3.org/news/news63.html Tue, 26 May 2009 06:00:00 GMT The success of the SCOAP3 initiative depends on widespread support from U.S. libraries. Over a hundred U.S. libraries have expressed their interest in supporting this transformation of scholarly communication in High-Energy Physics. SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, and ACRL, the Association of College and Research Libraries, have prepared a FAQ aiming to support the decision-making process for additional U.S. libraries to sign an Expression of Interest in support of SCOAP3. The FAQ is accessible from http://scoap3.org/us_faq.html. http://scoap3.org/news/news62.html http://scoap3.org/news/news62.html Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT The SCOAP3 support in the U.S. continues to grow: five universities and a consortium have signed an expression of interest pledging to re-direct to SCOAP3 their current subscriptions to HEP journals. The new SCOAP3 partners are Grand Valley State University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Arizona, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Washington University in Saint Louis and the California State University Systemwide Electronic Information Resources consortium (CSU-SEIR), that has signed an Expression of Interest on behalf of the twenty three campus libraries of the California State University. Libraries and consortia in the U.S. have so far collectively pledged a total of 2.3 Million $/year to SCOAP3. Pledges for an additional 1.2 Million $/year would cover the expected U.S. contribution to SCOAP3. Worldwide, 61% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope has been pledged by partners in 21 countries. http://scoap3.org/news/news61.html http://scoap3.org/news/news61.html Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT Four more U.S. universities have joined the SCOAP3 initiative: Brigham Young University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University and the University of Washington. The SCOAP3 membership in the US now counts about a hundred libraries who, either directly or through their consortia, have collectively pledged a total of 2.2 Million $/year to this initiative, covering 63% of the expected U.S. contribution. Before it can move forward, SCOAP3 needs pledges from U.S. partners for additional 1.4 Million $/year. U.S. libraries of all sizes can pledge to re-direct to the SCOAP3 initiative their current subscriptions to HEP journals, and play a leading role to spark an Open Access transformation of scholarly communication. Worldwide, over 60% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope has been pledged by partners in 21 countries. http://scoap3.org/news/news60.html http://scoap3.org/news/news60.html Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT SCOAP3 is organizing a forum during the ACRL conference in Seattle. The SCOAP3 initiative has so far collected pledges for a total of 7.6 Million $/year from partners in 21 countries corresponding to 60% of its worldwide budget envelope. In the U.S., a growing number of leading libraries and library consortia have already signed an Expression of Interest pledging a total of 2 Million $/year to the SCOAP3 consortium. About 1.5 Million $/year are still needed to complete the expected U.S. contribution and allow the initiative to move forward. The forum in Seattle follows the SCOAP3 focal meeting in Berkeley and the event at ALA in Denver and aims to present an overview of the SCOAP3 initiative to U.S. librarians and provide an opportunity to delve even more deeply into the process of committing to the consortium, establishing its governing board, and the project's conditions for the call for tender. We welcome participation of colleagues from U.S. institutions of all sizes, which have the ultimate power of making Open Access happen by pledging to redirect their current subscription to High-Energy Physics journals to the SCOAP3 consortium. The event will take place on Saturday, March 14, 2009, noon-2pm at the Sheraton Hotel, 1400 Sixth Avenue, Issaquah room. No registration is necessary. http://scoap3.org/news/news59.html http://scoap3.org/news/news59.html Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:00:00 GMT The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) has expressed its interest to join SCOAP3. With Canada, the SCOAP3 membership now counts 20 countries in America, Australasia, Europe and the Middle East, as well as an increasing number of leading U.S. libraries and an international organization. These partners have collectively pledged 60% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope of 10 million Euros/year. http://scoap3.org/news/news58.html http://scoap3.org/news/news58.html Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:00:00 GMT Two U.S. universities, Oregon State and Tulane, and a U.S. consortium, Florida Center for Library Automation, which groups eleven Florida universities, have joined SCOAP3. These universities join an increasing number of institutional and consortial U.S. partners of SCOAP3 who have collectively pledged over 2 Million U.S. dollars to this Open Access initiative. In the SCOAP3 financing scheme, U.S. partners are expected to contribute a total of 3.4 Million U.S. dollars. Worldwide, the SCOAP3 membership counts partners in 20 countries and one international organization which have collectively pledged 57% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope: a total of 5.7 Million Euros/year (7.2 Million U.S. dollars/year). http://scoap3.org/news/news57.html http://scoap3.org/news/news57.html Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:00:00 GMT The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation has expressed its interest in joining SCOAP3 and be responsible for the contribution of Spain to the consortium. With Spain, the SCOAP3 membership now consists of 20 countries in Europe, Australasia and the Middle East, as well as a large number of leading U.S. libraries and CERN, an international organization. These partners have collectively pledged 53% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope, of 10 million Euros/year. http://scoap3.org/news/news56.html http://scoap3.org/news/news56.html Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:00:00 GMT The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) are organising an information session on SCOAP3 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver. The SCOAP3 initiative has so far collected about 1/2 of its projected budget envelope in the United States, thanks to the vision and leadership of leading libraries and library consortia. The event and the following Q and A aim to present the initiative to colleagues from institutions of all sizes, which have the power of making Open Access happen by pledging to redirect their current subscription to High-Energy Physics journals to the SCOAP3 consortium. The event will take place on Saturday, January 24, 2009, 10:30 a.m.-noon, at the Colorado Convention Center, Room 705. No registration is necessary to attend this event. http://scoap3.org/news/news55.html http://scoap3.org/news/news55.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:00:00 GMT SCOAP3 is collecting Expressions of Interest from partners worldwide to join the consortium. Once it will have reached a critical mass, SCOAP3 will be formally established and its governance put in place. SCOAP3 will then issue its call for tender to publishers, in order to assess the exact cost of its operation, and then move forward with negotiating and placing contracts with publishers. In less than one year and a half, SCOAP3 has received pledges for 49.5% of its budget envelope. Most European countries have joined the consortium , with the remaining European partners poised to do so in the near future. The United States have already pledged about 1/2 of their contribution to the consortium, through leading US libraries, library consortia and HEP laboratories Beyond Europe and North America,Turkey, Israel and Australia have also joined the consortium. Discussions and negotiations are in progress in several countries in Asia, North and South America. Formal discussion with the publishers have not officially started, as the tendering process cannot be launched before a larger fraction of the SCOAP3 budget is pledged. However, publishers show a pro-active attitude of great support to Open Access in HEP. SCOAP3 offers librarians the possibility to experiment a new, fair and sustainable, Open Access model, in a field where scientists are unconditionally supporting the initiative. To transform this initiative in reality, the vision and commitment of colleagues wordlwide is crucial. http://scoap3.org/news/news54.html http://scoap3.org/news/news54.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:00:00 GMT The Israeli Science Foundation and the Israeli Committee for High Energy Physics have joined SCOAP3 on behalf of Israel. Israel becomes the 19th country to join the SCOAP3 consortium, which counts countries in Europe, Australasia and the Middle East, as well as a large number of leading U.S. libraries and CERN, an international research organisation whose scientists are committed to Open Access. The SCOAP3 initiative has so far collected pledges against half of its projected budget envelope of 10 million euros/year. Several more partners in Europe, the Americas and Asia are discussing their accession to the consortium. http://scoap3.org/news/news53.html http://scoap3.org/news/news53.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:00:00 GMT Europhysics Letters announced that it will "offer open access free of charge to all authors submitting experimental and theoretical letters in [the subjects of] 'Physics of Elementary Particles and Fields' and 'Nuclear Physics'[,] two research areas focussing on the High-Energy Physics community". EPL is published under the scientific policy and control of the European Physical Society by EDP Sciences, IOP Publishing and the Italian Physical Society (SIF) for a partnership of 17 European physical societies. With this offer, EPL joins Springer's European Physical Journal C, which offers Open Access free of charges for all articles in experimental High-Energy Physics, and Elsevier's Physics Letters B and Nuclear Physics B, which will publish Open Access without any author fees the first articles describing the physics results of the LHC. Some other Open Access options in HEP are those of SISSA/IOPP, where libraries of institutions active in HEP can have a yearly institutional membership and provide Open Access to all articles produced by their scientists; APS, where authors can pay fees to make their articles Open Access through the free to read scheme; and full Open Access journals such as the New Journal of Physics and PhysMath Central Physics A, supported by author fees. Those steps signify the engagement of publishers towards Open Access in HEP, which is the ultimate scope of the SCOAP3 initiative. SCOAP3 target is universal and sustainable Open Access for all articles in the discipline without any direct financial burden for scientists and additional costs for libraries http://scoap3.org/news/news52.html http://scoap3.org/news/news52.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:00:00 GMT The Swiss Institute of Particle Physics (CHIPP), which groups 9 universities and federal institutes of technology in Switzerland active in the field of High Energy Physics, has joined SCOAP3 on behalf of Switzerland. The CHIPP Executive Board declared that: "CHIPP welcomes the SCOAP3 initiative, which paves the way towards open access publishing, keeping the essential peer review process intact. [...] We believe that once the SCOAP3 process has been put in place, it will point the way towards an open access publishing approach for science in general." With Switzerland, the SCOAP3 membership now consists of 17 countries in Europe, Australasia and the Middle East and a growing number of U.S. libraries and library consortia who have collectively pledged 4.84 million Euros towards the SCOAP3 initiative, corresponding to 48.4% of the projected SCOAP3 budget envelope, with another 7.6% about to be pledged in the near future. http://scoap3.org/news/news51.html http://scoap3.org/news/news51.html Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:00:00 GMT Join us for an information meeting on SCOAP3 in New Delhi on 25 November 2008, just before the International Conference of Asian Special Libraries (ICoASL 2008). SCOAP3 has so far collected commitments for over a half of its projected budget envelope, from a dozen countries in Europe, North America and the Middle East. In order to make the initiative a success, a broad worldwide consensus is now needed, and Indian and Asian libraries have a unique, pivotal, role to play. Come and learn more about this initiative, how libraries of all size can join the global effort in making SCOAP3 happen, and how to lend your support to promote Open Access. The event will take place at 02.30 - 05.30 p.m in the Auditorium of the India Islamic Cultural Centre, 87-88, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, India Attendance is free, but please confirm participation with: asiansla@gmail.com http://scoap3.org/news/news50.html http://scoap3.org/news/news50.html Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT In November 2007, Springer declared its strong support for Open Access. In october 2008, a new statement reinforces this support: "In anticipation of successful negotiations with interested Open Access funding agencies in the future, the "open access" publishing fees for all experimental papers [both regular articles and scientific notes] submitted to and accepted for publication by The European Physical Journal C - Particles and Fields will continue to be waived." http://scoap3.org/news/news49.html http://scoap3.org/news/news49.html Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:00:00 GMT Three more U.S. partners have recently joined the SCOAP3 initiative: Purdue University, Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) and the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA). SCOAP3 now counts 47 partners in the U.S., comprising individual libraries, research laboratories and library consortia. These have pledged to re-direct their expenditures for subscriptions to High-Energy Physics journals to the SCOAP3 initiative, aiming to convert the High-Energy Physics literature to Open Access. Globally, SCOAP3 is now supported by partners in 18 countries which have collectively pledged 4.7 million euros, 6.9 million U.S. dollars, towards the yearly operation of the consortium. This corresponds to 47% of the projected SCOAP3 budget envelope, with more partners poised to join in the near future. http://scoap3.org/news/news48.html http://scoap3.org/news/news48.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:00:00 GMT Just before the successful circulation of the first beams in the LHC accelerator at CERN seminal articles describing the construction of the LHC and its detectors were published Open Access in the Journal of Instrumentation. This is in line with the commitment of HEP scientists to Open Access. Elsevier has meanwhile announced that it will join Springer and SISSA/IOP in publishing Open Access without any author fees the first articles describing the physics results of the LHC. Symmetry comments on these stories can be found here and here. Publishing in HEP and Open Access are among the subjects of Richard Poynder's interviews to Rolf-Dieter Heuer and Annette Holtkamp http://scoap3.org/news/news47.html http://scoap3.org/news/news47.html Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:00:00 GMT The Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) has joined SCOAP3 on behalf of Turkey, recognising that "the SCOAP3 initiative is important for the High-Energy Physics community worldwide". The SCOAP3 membership now consists of 16 countries in Europe, Australasia and the Middle East and a fast-growing number of U.S. libraries and library consortia. In one year of fund-raising the SCOAP3 initiative has collected, or is about to collect, pledges for over one half of its projected budget envelope. http://scoap3.org/news/news46.html http://scoap3.org/news/news46.html Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:00:00 GMT The NorthEast Research Libraries consortium, NERL, has joined SCOAP3. With NERL, SCOAP3 now counts partners in 16 countries and an international organization, which have collectively pledged 4.5 million Euros (7.2 million U.S. dollars) corresponding to 45% of the global SCOAP3 budget envelope. Since SCOAP3 was first promoted in the U.S at the end of February, 44 U.S. partners (library consortia, national laboratories and individual libraries) have already pledged about half of the expected U.S. contribution to SCOAP3. http://scoap3.org/news/news45.html http://scoap3.org/news/news45.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:00:00 GMT GWLA, the Great Western Library Alliance, has joined SCOAP3 on behalf of 18 of its members, with more expected to join in the near future. The Deans and Directors of GWLA had already endorsed SCOAP3 project. Dr. Joni Blake, Executive Director of the GWLA, said "The member libraries of the Alliance are keenly interested in this project and what it would mean to the future of scholarly communication. Our greatest hope is that SCOAP3 proves not only to be a successful model for the HEP community, but is also scalable and expandable into other disciplines." With GWLA, SCOAP3 now counts 44 partners in the United States: consortia, national laboratories and individual libraries. In total, SCOAP3 has received pledges for over 4 Million Euros, 40% of its budget envelope, from partners in 16 countries and one international organisation. http://scoap3.org/news/news44.html http://scoap3.org/news/news44.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:00:00 GMT Five more U.S. partners have joined SCOAP3: three laboratories, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, SLAC, the Thomas Jefferson Laboratory, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and two universities, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the Northwestern University SCOAP3 now counts 29 institutions in the U.S., which have pledged to redirect their current subscriptions to High-Energy Physics journals to the initiative. More U.S. partners are expected to join in the near future. SCOAP3 is also supported by partners from 15 European countries, Australia and one international organisation. In total, SCOAP3 has received pledges for about 4 million euros, over 6 million dollars, corresponding to 40% of its budget envelope. http://scoap3.org/news/news43.html http://scoap3.org/news/news43.html Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:00:00 GMT The Association of College and Research Libraries, ACRL, has issued a letter of support for the SCOAP3 initiative, where it "welcomes this experiment in new funding models and recognizes its potential to inform scholarly publishing more globally" and states that it "believes that SCOAP3 is a valuable addition to the heterogeneous mix of strategies being undertaken by scholars, publishers, libraries and others to ensure the future of high-quality journals." Additionally, the association "encourages its members to consider joining the SCOAP3 effort through an institutional or consortial expression of intrest". More details are in a podcast interview with John Ober and Kim Douglas, current and incoming co-chairs of ACRL’ s Scholarly Communications Committee. http://scoap3.org/news/news42.html http://scoap3.org/news/news42.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT UKB, the Dutch consortium of the thirteen university libraries and the National Library of the Netherlands, and , the National Institute for Subatomic Physics in the Netherlands, have joined SCOAP3. M.A.M. Heijne, the president of UKB, commented: "I sincerely hope that this project will be an opportunity to show the world that the challenges in Open Access can be met." The Netherlands becomes the 15th country to join SCOAP3, which has also received financial pledges from an international organization and a growing number of U.S. universities, laboratories and library consortia. To date, over 38% of the SCOAP3 budget has been pledged and more partners are poised to join in the near future. http://scoap3.org/news/news41.html http://scoap3.org/news/news41.html Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:00:00 GMT JISC has joined SCOAP3 on behalf of UK Higher Education Institutions who have pledged to re-direct their current expenditures on High-Energy Physics journals to this Open Access initiative. Dr. Malcolm Read, JISC Executive Secretary, commented: "JISC strongly supports moves towards making scholarly resources openly available, in a sustainable manner that brings value for money to education and research. We're delighted therefore to be supporting an initiative that promotes an innovative business model while making vital resources available to all." With JISC, SCOAP3 now counts partners from 14 countries in Europe and Oceania, as well as an international organisation and a number of institutes in the United States. In total, these partners have pledged 37.4% of the SCOAP3 budget envelope, corresponding to 3.7 million Euros (5.8 million $). http://scoap3.org/news/news40.html http://scoap3.org/news/news40.html Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:00:00 GMT Australia has joined SCOAP3, through a partnership of six Universities: Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Western Australia, New South Wales and the Australian National University The University of Melbourne declared: Australian universities have a long history of collaboration to provide the advanced scholarly information infrastructure required to support research and innovation. Now, more than perhaps ever before, collaboration across national boundaries will be essential to advance knowledge creation and dissemination. SCOAP3 provides an excellent opportunity to test how this may be done. With the accession of Australia, SCOAP3 has received pledges for exactly a third of its budget, and expanded its consensus basis beyond Europe, where is supported by 12 countries and an international organisation and the United States. http://scoap3.org/news/news39.html http://scoap3.org/news/news39.html Tue, 20 May 2008 08:00:00 GMT Five more U.S. institutions have expressed their interest in redirecting their subscriptions to High-Energy Physics journals to SCOAP3: Emory University Lewis and Clark College University of Hawai'i University of Kansas University of Wisconsin at Madison With these accessions SCOAP3 now counts 24 partners in the United States in addition to partners representing 12 European Countries and an international laboratory. http://scoap3.org/news/news38.html http://scoap3.org/news/news38.html Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:00:00 GMT The Institut Interuniversitaire des Sciences Nucleaires of the Belgian National Foundation for Scientific Research, Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS has joined SCOAP3 on behalf of Belgium. The SCOAP3 membership now consists of 12 European countries and a growing number of U.S. library and library consortia which have collectively pledged about 3 Million Euros, or 5 Million U.S. dollars, towards the operation of the consortium. http://scoap3.org/news/news37.html http://scoap3.org/news/news37.html Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:00:00 GMT The Deans and Directors of the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA), a consortium of 31 research libraries in the mid-western and western United States, endorsed the SCOAP3 project. They expressed interest in redirecting their subscription expenditures in High-Energy Physics journals toward the SCOAP3 project. http://scoap3.org/news/news36.html http://scoap3.org/news/news36.html Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:00:00 GMT ARL, the Association of Research Libraries, has published in its Bimonthly Report, no. 257 (April 2008) an essay by Ivy Anderson encouraging libraries to support SCOAP3. The essay remarks the "Audacity of SCOAP3" as being "non-disruptive to authors-and to a substantial degree, to publishers and societies" and having "the potential to fundamentally alter the role of libraries in the publishing process". In the same issue of Bimonthly Report , ARL encourages library and consortia to review the Report of the SCOAP3 Working Party, calculate the amount of their pledge to SCOAP3 by estimating their current expenditures on seven HEP core journals and sign the expression of interest to join SCOAP3. http://scoap3.org/news/news35.html http://scoap3.org/news/news35.html Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:00:00 GMT Maine InfoNet has joined SCOAP3. Maine InfoNet is a service of the University of Maine System and the Maine State Library, which draws on a partnership of public, academic, school, and special libraries to establish a statewide Maine Digital Library. It joins other 19 U.S. institutions which have pledged to re-direct their subscriptions to High-Energy Physics journals to SCOAP3. The progress of the SCOAP3 fund-raising can be monitored here http://scoap3.org/news/news34.html http://scoap3.org/news/news34.html Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:00:00 GMT ASERL, the Association of Souteastern Research Libraries, groups 38 U.S. Universities. The Board of ASERL, has voted a resolution in support of SCOAP3. http://scoap3.org/news/news33.html http://scoap3.org/news/news33.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:00:00 GMT The University of Oregon has joined SCOAP3. With the University of Oregon, SCOAP3 counts already 18 U.S. institutions which have pledged to re-direct their subscriptions to High-Energy Physics journals to the initiative. About 15% of the U.S. contribution to SCOAP3 has already been collected, a number which is poised to increase in the coming weeks. http://scoap3.org/news/news32.html Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT OhioLINK a consortium of the libraries of 86 Ohio colleges and universities, and the State Library of Ohio, has joined SCOAP3 . Tom Sanville, Executive director of OhioLINK said: "SCOAP3, if successful, offers what we would like to all see with Open Access journals - at least a zero sum game or better. It is not a dual investment with traditional subscriptions but a replacement at not worse than the value of our current investment and hopefully better. For that reason alone the OhioLINK community thinks it worthwhile to support CERN's steps to see if this can be put into practice for important journal content". OhioLINK joins a fast-growing number of U.S institutions which have pledged to re-direct their subscriptions to High-Energy Physics journals to SCOAP3. http://scoap3.org/news/news31.html Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:00:00 GMT The videos of the SCOAP3 U.S. Focal meeting held on February 29, 2008 at the University of California at Berkeley are now available on YouTube. You can also download the webcast or a podcast. http://scoap3.org/news/news30.html Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:00:00 GMT The Johns Hopkins University has indicated its interest in participating in SCOAP3 and becomes the first institute on the U.S. East Coast to do so, stretching the SCOAP3 U.S. membership from the Atlantic to the Midwest, from the Mountains to the Pacific. In 10 days, 16 U.S. institutes have signed an Expression of Interest in joining SCOAP3, pledging a total of more than 10% of the U.S. contribution to SCOAP3. "SCOAP3 is an exciting approach to scientific publishing being led by CERN, the particle physics laboratory that developed the World Wide Web. I am delighted that the Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries are collaborating with CERN to support this global project," said Jonathan Bagger, Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and Vice Provost for Graduate Programs. "With increasingly rapid changes in the forms of scholarly communication and access, it is critical for libraries at research intensive institutions like Johns Hopkins to be open to all sorts of publishing models that benefit authors and advance scientific knowledge," said Winston Tabb, Sheridan Dean of University Libraries at Johns Hopkins. http://scoap3.org/news/news29.html Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:00:00 GMT On February 29, 2008 the University of California at Berkeley hosted the US SCOAP3 focal meeting, aimed at fostering broad consensus and involvement from the leading US libraries and library consortia to make SCOAP3 happen. Consult the slides presented at the meeting and the list of participants and the Participating institutions. » Read more http://scoap3.org/news/news28.html Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:00:00 GMT Four U.S. National Laboratories joined SCOAP3 today. The libraries of Argonne National Laboratory, Fermilab, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory signed an Expression of Interest to re-direct their current subscriptions to High-Energy Physics journals to the SCOAP3 consortium. To date, fifteen libraries across the U.S. are part of SCOAP3 and more are expected to join in the very near future. In seven months, 30% of the SCOAP3 budget has been pledged by libraries in 13 countries. http://scoap3.org/news/news27.html Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:00:00 GMT IEEE announced today its interest in participating in the SCOAP3 initiative, mentioning that "SCOAP3 endorses principles such as the value of peer review to validate scientific research, and the need for self-sustaining business models. The IEEE is keenly interested in exploring approaches that benefit the creators and consumers of technical literature." IEEE publishes a "broadband" journal, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, which, among other engineering disciplines, carries articles about technical aspects of High-Energy Physics experiments. SCOAP3 aims to convert the High-Energy Physics content of such "broadband" journals to Open Access. IEEE agrees that "Under the SCOAP3 plan, paid subscribers to a broadband journal would receive a price reduction to account for the subset of the journal's articles that are supported by SCOAP3" http://scoap3.org/news/news26.html Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:00:00 GMT The California Institute of Technology has signed an expression of interest to join SCOAP3. Caltech stated "that the High Energy Physics scientists are, indeed, taking a fresh look at the publishing cycle. Through SCOAP3, they have devised a model to put the scientific HEP community in greater control of its work. This is a refreshing and encouraging approach, and one that should serve research well." Caltech joins fast-growing list of U.S. libraries who have joined SCOAP3 in the recent days. http://scoap3.org/news/news25.html Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:00:00 GMT The California Digital Library has joined SCOAP3 on behalf of the ten Campuses of UC Berkeley , UC Davis , UC Irvine , UC Los Angeles , UC Merced , UC Riverside , UC San Diego , UC San Francisco , UC Santa Barbara , UC Santa Cruz. These institutes become the first to join SCOAP3 in the United States. The University of California stated: "We find the consortial funding model of SCOAP3 both intriguing and innovative and are impressed with the level of support that SCOAP3 has been able to garner in Europe to date. Any proposal that holds out promise for placing scholarly publishing on a more sustainable and open footing is a welcome development." The SCOAP3 fund-raising is complete in 12 European countries, with more European countries expected to join soon. Today, the fund-raising in the United States has started, and will be boosted by the SCOAP3 US Focal Meeting. http://scoap3.org/news/news24.html Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:00:00 GMT Eastern Europe counts more and more countries in SCOAP3. On 18th of February, Prof. Zalán Horváth, Chairman of Section of Physical Sciences in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences signed the Expression of Interest to join SCOAP3, on behalf on Hungary. Hungary becomes the 12th country to join the consortium and brings the total funds pledged to SCOAP3 to 2.7 millions Euro or 4 million U.S. dollars: only seven months after the start of the fund-raising. http://scoap3.org/news/news23.html Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:00:00 GMT The Slovak Republic signs the Expression of Interest to join the SCOAP3 consortium. The Slovak-CERN Committee will be responsible for the Slovak contribution to SCOAP3. With the accession of the Slovak Republic, the SCOAP3 consortium now counts 11 countries all over Europe; we expect other countries to join very soon. http://scoap3.org/news/news22.html Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:00:00 GMT Nicolae Victor Zamfir, director general of the Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering signs the Expression of Interest to join the SCOAP3 consortium, on behalf of Romania. He finds "SCOAP3 a very good initiative to disseminate high-quality results in particle physics [...] supporting Open Access". Romania joins a rapidly-increasing list of members of the SCOAP3 consortium. http://scoap3.org/news/news21.html Fri, 15 Feb 2008 18:00:00 GMT The SCOAP3 initiative is rapidly gaining momentum: in a few months, many European countries have expressed their interest in joining the consortium and many more are expected to follow suit in the coming months, with more and more awareness rising in the rest of the world and with widespread support from the scientific community. However, without broad consensus and involvement from the leading US libraries and library consortia, SCOAP3 cannot happen. Join representatives from over 40 U.S. libraries and U.S. library consortia and come to the US SCOAP3 focal meeting at the University of California at Berkeley on February 29! This is an opportunity for individual libraries and library consortia to learn more about this unique initiative, and how each of us can make a difference and make Open Access happen. The goal of this event is to explain the SCOAP3 objectives and implementation and to bring together our insight and experience to understand how a re-direction of subscriptions to High Energy Physics journals toward SCOAP3 might be achieved in the U.S. http://scoap3.org/news/news20.html Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:00:00 GMT The High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) advises the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. National Science Foundation on High Energy Physics (HEP) research. After discussing Open Access at a recent meeting the panel expressed its strong support for SCOAP3, contingent upon its sustainability. SCOAP3 is concerned about sustainability, as it answers a call from the HEP community for Open Access that maintains the high standards of peer-review of its high-quality journals. SCOAP3 aims to achieve Open Access by re-directing subscription funds which are already in use, today, to provide content to library users, rather than requiring new sources of funding and is thus sustainable by construction. http://scoap3.org/news/news19.html Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:00:00 GMT Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Research director of DESY and Director-General Elect of CERN spoke of "Innovation in Scholarly Communication: Vision and Projects from High Energy Physics" at APE2008, "Academic Publishing in Europe, Quality and Publishing". He discussed the strong support of the scientific community in High Energy Physics (HEP) to Open Access (OA) and the strength of the SCOAP3 model, which was worked out in a consensus among scientists, librarians and publishers worldwide; he outlined the future for Discipline Repositories in HEP with the onset of a new e-infrastructure for scholarly communication answering the evolving needs of users; and shared his vision on preservation, re-use, and OA to primary data, recounting his personal experience. http://scoap3.org/news/news18.html Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:00:00 GMT The Strategic Helmholtz Alliance 'Physics at the Terascale' fully supports the goal of SCOAP3 of free and unrestricted electronic access to peer-reviewed journal literature in particle physics and is convinced that the proposed fair-share business model will promote a healthy and dynamic market and will benefit scientists, authors, funding agencies and publishers alike. Unrestricted access to published scientific results is essential for wide dissemination and efficient usage of scientific knowledge, says the Management Board of the Alliance, which invites all partners to actively support the SCOAP3 initiative, facilitate the large-scale transition to open-access in particle physics by raising awareness on open-access publishing in their communities and encourage their authors to publish in open-access journals. The Alliance is a German network comprising 17 universities, 2 Helmholtz institutes and 1 Max Planck institute. It represents experimental physicists and theoretical physicists addressing the fundamental questions of particle physics, distributed computing, novel detector development and accelerator science. http://scoap3.org/news/news17.html Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:00:00 GMT The Institute of High Energy Physics of the Austrian Academy of Sciences signs the Expression of Interest to join the SCOAP3 consortium. The participation to the consortium will involve all Austrian High Energy Physics institutes and their Libraries. http://scoap3.org/news/news16.html Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:00:00 GMT The Norwegian association of higher education institutions (UHR) signs the Expression of Interest to join SCOAP3 on behalf of the Kingdom. The participation is strongly supported by both the national Research Council and the Physics Council. http://scoap3.org/news/news15.html Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:00:00 GMT The Danish Library Agency signs an Expression of Interest to join SCOAP3, pledging the Danish contribution to the consortium. The Danish Library Agency represents the Denmark Electronic Research Library (DEFF). DEFF an organisational and technological partnership between research libraries co-financed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education. Read more: http://scoap3.org/aboutus/aboutus7.html http://scoap3.org/news/news14.html Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:00:00 GMT SCOAP3 is rapidly gaining momentum: in a few months, many European countries have expressed their interest in joining the consortium and many more are expected to follow suit in the coming months, with more and more awareness rising in the rest of the world. Over a third of the required budget envelope has already been pledged or will be pledged shortly. But without broad consensus and involvement from the leading US libraries and library consortia, SCOAP3 cannot happen. Therefore, we would like to invite representative of US libraries and US library consortia to a US SCOAP3 focal meeting at the University of California at Berkeley on February 29, 2008. This is an opportunity for individual libraries and library consortia to learn more about this unique initiative. The goal of this event is to explain the SCOAP3 model objectives and implementation and to bring together our insight and experience to understand how a re- direction of subscriptions toward SCOAP3 might be achieved. Read more and register online and free of charges at http://scoap3.org/focalmeeting.html http://scoap3.org/news/news13.html Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT CERN Council today appointed Professor Rolf-Dieter Heuer as next CERN Director General. Professor Heuer will serve a five-year term, taking office on 1 January 2009. His mandate will cover the early years of operation and first scientific results from the Laboratory's new flagship research facility, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), scheduled to begin operation in summer 2008. The present CERN Director General, Dr. Robert Aymar, is an Open Access advocate and inspired the SCOAP3 initiative. Prof. Heuer, now Research Director at DESY, the German High Energy Physics laboratory, is also an Open Access supporter. He was among the signatories of the first Expression of Interest to reach SCOAP3, pledging German financial support to the consortium, and he is a member of the Editorial Board of PhysMathCentral Physics A, which he calls "another important step in removing access barriers to knowledge about high- energy physics experiments and theories. Increased choice and diversity is a benefit to all, leading to a healthy and dynamic market in academic publishing in particle physics, in line with the spirit of SCOAP3." http://scoap3.org/news/news12.html Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:00:00 GMT The Council of the European Union adopts Conclusions on scientific information in which it "recognises the strategic importance for Europe’s scientific development of current initiatives to develop sustainable models for open access [...]" and "underlines the importance of effective collaboration between different actors, including funding agencies, researchers, research institutions and scientific publishers, in relation to access [... to], scientific publications". These principles are precisely the pillars of the SCOAP3 model. Finally, it "invites Member States to enhance the co-ordination between [...] large research institutions and funding bodies on access [...] policies and practices". http://scoap3.org/news/news11.html Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:00:00 GMT The Swedish National Library on behalf of the BIBSAM consortium for Swedish research libraries signs the Expression of Interest to join the SCOAP3 consortium. http://scoap3.org/news/news10.html Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:00:00 GMT Springer makes a further step towards Open Access: The European Physical Journal C, which is among the potential initial partners of SCOAP3, is willing to negotiate with funding agencies interested in Open Access to become fully Open Access. In anticipation of such successful negotiations, all experimental papers accepted by The European Physical Journal C will be published Open Access without any fees. http://scoap3.org/news/news9.html Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:00:00 GMT The rectors and council chairmen of Greek Universities confirm the participation of the Greek academic community to SCOAP3. The financial support will be covered by the Greek Library Association's budget, completed by the participating universities. http://scoap3.org/news/news8.html Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:00:00 GMT The Portuguese Minister of Science, Professor Mariano Gago, during the closing address of the Berlin 5 Open Access conference held in Padua, strongly supports the SCOAP3 initiative. http://scoap3.org/news/news7.html Wed, 10 Oct 2007 08:00:00 GMT The INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy) expresses its interest to join the SCOAP3 consortium. http://scoap3.org/news/news6.html Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:00:00 GMT Robert Aymar, CERN Director General, signs the Expression of Interest to join the SCOAP3 consortium. http://scoap3.org/news/news5.html Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:00:00 GMT On behalf of the Assembly of Greek universities, the University of Patras signs the Expression of Interest to join the SCOAP3 consortium. http://scoap3.org/news/news4.html Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:00:00 GMT The director of CNRS/IN2P3 signs the Expression of Interest to join the SCOAP3 consortium. http://scoap3.org/news/news3.html Tue, 4 Sep 2007 18:00:00 GMT ICFA, the international committee for future accelerators, a major forum for the future directions in High Energy Physics, encourages all concerned parties from all world regions to actively get involved in the SCOAP3 initiative to assure its success. http://scoap3.org/news/news2.html Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:00:00 GMT The representatives of Helmholtz consortium (DESY, HMI, FZK, GSI), Max Planck Society (MPG), and Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) sign the Expression of Interest to join the SCOAP3 consortium. http://scoap3.org/news/news1.html Thu, 9 Aug 2007 18:00:00 GMT