Last week, Wiley posted an official response to the proposed implementation of Plan S, the multi-funder effort to ensure immediate open access to scientific publications from 2020 onwards. The group of funders (known as cOAlition S) issued a call for feedback in November 2018, which was a great opportunity for reflection here at Wiley and continued dialogue as a global community.

Here at Wiley we’re incredibly proud to help our customers succeed – to empower researchers to communicate the amazing work they do every day, to enable our society partners to continue publishing powerful journals, and to promote the dissemination of knowledge as widely as possible. We recognize that the research landscape is quickly evolving, and we’re fully supportive of the growing movement to make research more open. Arguably, we are in a time where the need to collaborate is stronger than ever. We want to keep this conversation going across our community because at the end of the day, we share the same belief that research drives growth and human advancement.

We know that as a scholarly publisher we have an essential part to play in supporting open research. Open access is an essential feature of our approach now and moving forward – over 90% of our journals provide an open access publishing option, whether that be through our 100+ fully open access titles, or our 1400+ hybrid journals. Many of the manuscripts we accept are also freely available under green open access policies.

We work closely together with our 800+ publishing partners and the thousands of inspirational researchers who publish their work with us. It’s only with their input, along with that of other stakeholders such as libraries, funders and universities, that we can innovate and move forward in this challenging research landscape, meeting their needs and ensuring that research is more open.

Earlier this year, we announced our exciting new agreement with Projekt DEAL that will enable authors at more than 700 German academic institutions to publish open access articles in our journals. We believe this kind of transformative agreement represents a vital opportunity and pathway to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers. The communities we serve are diverse and have their own interests and needs. A one-size fits all approach just isn’t sustainable, which is why, in our feedback on Plan S, we emphasize our commitment to maximizing choice for authors, and the importance of tailoring our services to the specific requirements of the institutions and funders who seek a transition to open access via transformative deals.  Academic freedom is of the utmost importance.  We are working towards breaking down barriers and do not want to build new ones as we advance an open research future.

We’re pleased that Plan S has heightened interest in scholarly publishing, and we appreciate the opportunity provided by cOAlition S to provide feedback on its initial ideas. We will continue to support and work closely with researchers, funders, institutions, and other stakeholders to ensure a sustainable way forward in the transition towards a more open and fair research landscape.

You can read Wiley’s full feedback statement on the implementation of Plan S here.

Do you have any questions or comments relating to Wiley’s feedback on Plan S? Leave your feedback in the comments section below.