Recognition means researchers can comply with Plan S by publishing in the 160 transitioning journals
The group of funders implementing Plan S, who require the researchers they support to make resulting papers openly available immediately in certain outlets, have assigned ‘transformative journal’ status to 160 academic journals published by Elsevier, confirming that publication in these journals will meet the Plan S criteria.
Transformative journals are publications that offer both paywalled and open-access options, but have committed to gradually transitioning to offering only open-access publication at a rate set by Coalition S, the funders supporting Plan S. Publication in such journals is permitted under Plan S alongside various other publishing routes.
Announcing the registration of the 160 Elsevier journals on 4 January, Coalition S said: “These titles, including many by Cell Press, have committed to transitioning to fully open access respecting the transformative journal criteria as described in the Coalition S Guidance on the implementation of Plan S.”
Elsevier publishes about 2,600 journals, and says on its website that “nearly all” of them offer open-access publishing. Coalition S drew attention to another Elsevier statement, which says: “We will ensure that any author who wants to publish open access in any one of our journals, across all disciplines of research, can do so while also meeting their funder’s requirements.”