New Project to Fund Converting Journals to Open Access


Editors of academic philosophy journals whose content is largely behind paywalls may be interested in applying to a new program from MIT Press that will “cover the expenses of transitioning a journal to open access model for a three-year term, provide the Press’s full suite of publishing services, and support the development of a sustainable funding model for the future.”

Dubbed “shift+Open”, the program is intended for journals that have been publishing for at least three years using a subscription model. There are no other restrictions on eligibility, so the fact that your journal is currently produced by another publisher is not an obstacle to applying, and journals based anywhere in the world are welcome to apply.

The aim is to convert journals to “diamond”-level open access, that is, no fees for authors to submit or publish their work and no fees for readers to access content.

They note: “we anticipate publishing only in a digital format but will consider submissions that have a print component.”

The project is funded by the Arcadia Fund.

You can learn more about shift+Open here.

Hedgehog Review
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

6 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
PhilMath
1 year ago

Come on BJPS, SHPS, and Philosophy of Science — let’s do this!

David Wallace
David Wallace
Reply to  PhilMath
1 year ago

I think SHPS is owned by Elsevier. BJPS and PhilSci are owned by their respective societies, though.

correcter
Reply to  David Wallace
1 year ago

BJPS is now published by University of Chicago Press, and PhilSci is now published by Cambridge University Press.

PhilMath
Reply to  correcter
1 year ago

I think what David Wallace said is that BJPS is owned by the BSPS and published on behalf of the BSPS by the UChicago Press (https://www.thebsps.org/about-bjps/). Similarly PhilSci is published by the CUP on behalf of the PSA. SHPS, on the other hand, is owned and published by Elsevier (something I didn’t know: I know it was co-founded by Larry Laudan at Pitt HPS.) So while BJPS and PhilSci can *theoretically* shift to MIT Press, SHPS cannot.

David Wallace
David Wallace
Reply to  PhilMath
1 year ago

Yes: exactly this.

editors need to pay rent too
editors need to pay rent too
Reply to  PhilMath
1 year ago

Because I so rarely see this mentioned in these conversations: This publishing model would result in a complete loss of income for these journal’s societies (where applicable) and hence loss of phd funding, conference funding, etc. It would also mean job losses (including mine!).