The Max Planck Society (MPG), an independent, non-profit German research organisation, and ScienceOpen, the research + Open Access publishing network based in Germany and the USA, have signed an agreement that will allow authors affiliated to MPG as members of one of its 82 institutes and research facilities, unlimited free publication of posters and research articles in 2015.
ScienceOpen facilitates immediate publication of research papers on its platform and aggregates nearly 1.4 million Open Access (OA) articles from other leading publishers. It encourages commenting and Post-Publication Peer Review of all content on the site. The MPG is an advocate for and co-founder of the international Open Access movement, it has negotiated favourable publishing terms for its researchers at all career levels with a range of OA titles that now include ScienceOpen.
Following the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) OA Ambassadors Conference, ScienceOpen fielded a short survey to MPG researchers to gauge their likely support for this partnership. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive – 95 percent of respondents said that they would welcome a collaboration between MPG and ScienceOpen. Other encouraging signs from the survey included nearly 90 percent of participants who were willing to publish in a journal that offers Non-Anonymous Peer Review after publication.
Frank Sander, General Manager of the Max Planck Digital Library said "since we have received many positive acknowledgements from senior Max Planck researchers, we are happy to now provide this one year pilot which allows unlimited publications with ScienceOpen free of charge for all Max Planck affiliates."
ScienceOpen CEO, Stephanie Dawson, said "all of us are delighted to end our year on such a positive note by establishing this important relationship with the Max Planck Society. We look forward to a productive 2015".
