The Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP3), a pioneering open-access initiative led by CERN, celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024. Since its inception, SCOAP3 has transformed research publishing in particle physics, making it freely accessible to both authors and readers through a unique global collaboration involving over 3,000 libraries, research institutes, funding bodies, and international organizations.
Over the past decade, SCOAP3 has funded the publication of more than 70,000 articles in 11 leading particle physics journals, effectively establishing open-access publishing as the standard for the discipline. The initiative has grown to include participants from nearly 50 countries, making it a vital mechanism for supporting CERN's Open Access Policy by funding approximately 50% of the organization’s research publications.
Building on its success, SCOAP3 is now set to embrace open science more broadly. Beginning in January 2025, with the launch of its fourth phase, SCOAP3 will introduce an Open Science Mechanism to encourage participating publishers to adopt open-science practices. This mechanism will offer financial incentives for incorporating persistent identifiers like ORCiDs and RORs, enhancing linked data and software availability, enriching article metadata for improved discoverability, and promoting open peer review. Additionally, publishers will be encouraged to disclose their policies on sustainability, data privacy, financial transparency, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. These efforts will be documented on the SCOAP3 website.
SCOAP3's recent initiatives also include supporting the availability of over 100 open-access textbooks and monographs through an ongoing books program. This expansion underscores the program’s commitment to broadening access to knowledge and fostering global collaboration in science.
As SCOAP3 enters its next phase, it continues to champion open science, setting a standard for collaborative and transparent research publishing worldwide.
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