Category Archives: oa.mit_press

Mass resignations from Elsevier journal over ‘unethical’ price hike | Times Higher Education (THE)

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“The editorial board of a leading Elsevier neuroscience journal have resigned after the publisher hiked its open-access fees to $3,450 (£2,776).

In an open letter published on 17 April, more than 40 editors of NeuroImage and its companion journal NeuroImage: Reports announced that they had quit over the “high publication fee” charged by the open-access title and would be starting a new non-profit journal, Imaging Neuroscience….

Chris Chambers, professor of cognitive neuroscience at Cardiff University and one of the editors to resign, said the latest APC increase was “pure greed on Elsevier’s part and was the straw that broke the camel’s back”….“The plain fact is that we don’t need Elsevier – it is a parasitic company that takes the products of science for nothing and then charges the public, and scientists, to buy back access to them,” he added….”

 

 

Mass resignations from Elsevier journal over ‘unethical’ price hike | Times Higher Education (THE)

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“The editorial board of a leading Elsevier neuroscience journal have resigned after the publisher hiked its open-access fees to $3,450 (£2,776).

In an open letter published on 17 April, more than 40 editors of NeuroImage and its companion journal NeuroImage: Reports announced that they had quit over the “high publication fee” charged by the open-access title and would be starting a new non-profit journal, Imaging Neuroscience….

Chris Chambers, professor of cognitive neuroscience at Cardiff University and one of the editors to resign, said the latest APC increase was “pure greed on Elsevier’s part and was the straw that broke the camel’s back”….“The plain fact is that we don’t need Elsevier – it is a parasitic company that takes the products of science for nothing and then charges the public, and scientists, to buy back access to them,” he added….”

 

 

Imaging Neuroscience

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“NeuroImage has long been the leading journal focusing on imaging neuroscience, with both the highest impact factor and the largest number of papers published annually. NeuroImage’s editorial team has tried to convince Elsevier to reduce the publication fee from $3,450, as we believe large profit is unethical and unsustainable. Elsevier is unwilling to reduce the fee; therefore, with great regret, all editors (more than 40 academic editors) of NeuroImage and NeuroImage:Reports have resigned. We are starting a new non-profit Open Access journal, Imaging Neuroscience, intended to replace NeuroImage as our field’s leading journal.

We are working with MIT Press to create the new journal, and aim to be ready for paper submissions very soon. The APC will be held as low as possible: we are aiming for less than half of the current NeuroImage APC, or even lower. The APC will be waived for low- or middle-income countries. Our ambition is for Imaging Neuroscience to replace NeuroImage as the top journal in our field, focusing on imaging of the brain and spinal cord, in humans and other species, also including neurophysiological and stimulation methods. The overall scope, quality level and entire editorial team will be the same as it had been at NeuroImage (combined with the editorial team from NeuroImage:Reports)….”

Diamond open access journals for Open Data Day – MIT Press

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“The MIT Press is proud to publish many journals with diamond open access status—publications boasting no fee to publish, with content open to anyone to read. For Open Data Day we gathered these publications all in one place, to celebrate free access to scholarship and information….”

Going Open Access: An Editorial Perspective Tickets, Mon, Mar 6, 2023 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite

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“Learn more about the process of flipping a journal to open access. Join us for a webinar with the editors of Quantitative Science Studies as they share what the process was like, what they wish they’d known before they started on this process, and how open access publishing has benefited their journal.

QSS is the official open access journal of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics. It publishes peer-reviewed, theoretical and empirical research on science and the scientific workforce. The MIT Press worked with the editorial board and office of QSS to flip the journal from the traditionally published Journal of Informetrics in 2019….”

Digging into shift+OPEN: A Conversation with MIT Press – The Scholarly Kitchen

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“One criterion MIT Press has stated up front is that journals applying for the shift+OPEN program can’t be either brand-new titles or established OA journals – they must be established subscription journals that want to switch to OA. What other criteria will the Press use in deciding which journals to take on?

The MIT Press journals list is heterogenous; we publish from New England history and culture to neuroscience and we welcome proposals that come in from across a wide spectrum of fields. The criteria we would use for Shift+OPEN  are the same as for any other journal that we’d consider publishing at the MIT Press. Is it making a meaningful contribution to its field and has the community accepted it as a source of important scholarship? Are the editorial operations and paper flow strong and does the editorial board accurately reflect the discipline and include top scholars working in the field?  We look at metrics like citations and downloads as well, to build out a full picture of the journal’s impact. Additionally, the Press is interested in fostering an open access culture in fields that have been slow to adopt OA and strongly encourages societies and others with journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences to consider applying.

How will “open access” be defined in the context of shift+OPEN? (For example, will participating journals be required to publish under a Creative Commons Attribution-only license, or will other versions of CC licensing be allowed?)

Open access for this diamond OA journal will mean free to read, submit, publish, and reuse the content as governed by the appropriate Creative Commons license. The selection of a CC license to be used as the default license will be done in consultation with the journal owner so we don’t have a definitive answer to the question of which license(s) at the moment. With our other open access titles, we’ve been very flexible and are willing to work with a variety of CC licenses that can satisfy funder mandates, author needs, and institutional policies. I’ve no reason to think that this will be any different….”

MIT Press wants to flip subscription journal to open access • The Register

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“Academic publisher the MIT Press has announced a new initiative to move from subscription-funded journals to open-access papers that are free of charge.

The project, dubbed Shift+OPEN, is now accepting applications from English-language journals without geographic restrictions, but it’s only funding a single publication for now, MIT Press Director of Journals and Open Access Nick Lindsay told The Register.

That lucky journal will have “the expenses of transitioning a journal to an open access model” covered for three years, access to the MIT Press’s “full suite of publishing services,” and support to “develop a sustainable funding model” once the three years of funding ends….

The MIT Press is looking for a partner to examine how to balance costs and quality in relation to continued diamond open access funding, and Lindsay said that he’s confident the program can lead to a sustainable model “if all sides are willing to work toward that goal.” 

As to what that funding model could look like, Lindsay said it’s going to depend largely on the journal chosen for Shift+OPEN funds. He told us the model will likely be a mixed-funding design similar to how arXiv is funded (e.g. by Cornell University, the Simons Foundation, institutional members and donors), though again that will depend on the journal; “if there’s a society behind the title then we’ve probably got a broader set of options than if it’s not.” …”

Shift+OPEN – An MIT Press program to flip journals to open access – MIT Press

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“The MIT Press welcomes applications for shift+OPEN, our new program designed to flip existing subscription-based journals to a diamond open access publishing model. With generous funding from the Arcadia Fund, shift+OPEN seeks to catalyze needed change in journals publishing, introduce authors to new readerships, and increase the reach of vital scholarship that has previously been locked behind paywalls.

The MIT Press has a long history of being at the leading edge of open access journal publishing. From opening access to Computational Linguistics in 2010 to publishing overlay journal Rapid Reviews: COVID-19 in 2020, the Press has embraced the need to broaden the dissemination of our journals while developing new models that work for everyone, including authors, editors, societies, and universities.

The MIT Press worked with the leadership of the ISSI to create Quantitative Science Studies (QSS) after the resignation of the editorial board of the subscription-based Journal of Informetrics (JOI), in 2019. This works predates shift+OPEN, but illustrates some outcomes of flipping a journal to open access. Download the QSS Case Study [PDF] …”

The MIT Press announces new initiative to flip existing subscription-based journals to a diamond open access publishing model

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“In keeping with its mission and longstanding commitment to increase access to scholarship, the MIT Press is pleased to announce shift+OPEN. This new initiative is designed to flip existing subscription-based journals to a diamond open access publishing model. Shift+OPEN is generously supported by the Arcadia Fund.

The MIT Press welcomes submissions for English-language journals in any field and from any part of the world. Intended for existing titles, shift+OPEN 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. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2023….”

The MIT Press opens spring 2023 list of scholarly monographs via Direct to Open model with support from over 240 libraries worldwide

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“The MIT Press today announced that it will open its spring 2023 list of monographs via the Direct to Open (D2O) model. First launched in 2021, D2O harnesses the collective power of libraries to support open and equitable access to vital, leading scholarship.

So far this year, 240 libraries from around the world have signed on to participate in D2O. Institutions include Duke University Libraries, Rocky Mountain College, KU Leuven, EPFL Switzerland, Johns Hopkins University Libraries, University of Manchester, University of Toronto Libraries, Massey University Library, Southern Cross University and more. To allow for expanded library participation, the D2O commitment window has been extended through June 30, 2023. 

Thanks to these supporting institutions, over 40 scholarly monographs and edited collections from 2023 will now be freely accessible worldwide. These new works join the collection of 80 monographs made freely available during the first year of the D2O model. Titles published via D2O are always accessible on the MIT Press Direct platform….”

Project MUSE Hosts New Interactive, Open-Access, Born-Digital Chapter

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“Project MUSE is pleased to host a new interactive, open-access, born-digital chapter, “The Web of History” from A New Vision for Islamic Pasts and Futures by Shahzad Bashir published by the MIT Press. The chapter of the publication hosted on MUSE mirrors the content from the born-digital product’s primary site, and is intended to provide an additional pathway to discovery, as well as spotlight the MUSE platform’s suitability for hosting robust and innovative digital humanities works.

A New Vision for Islamic Pasts and Futures brings together the MIT Press’s global publishing experience and the Brown University Library’s digital publication expertise. The groundbreaking scholarship decenters Islam from a geographical identification with the Middle East, an articulation through men’s authority alone, and the assumption that premodern expressions are more authentically Islamic than modern ones. Aimed at a wide international audience, the publication consists of engaging stories and audiovisual materials that will enable readers at all levels to appreciate Islam as an aspect of global history for centuries. The book URL is islamic-pasts-futures.org.”

Performing openness in academic publishing | Alex McLean

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I was unsure about writing this blog post, but today I was turned away from signing up for the openly-advertised University of Sheffield’s Open Research initiative’s inaugural annual Open Research lecture for not being a current member of the institution. So urged on by a deep sense of irony, here I am with a rant about trying to publish a book open access.

After much collaborative work over many years, I’m really happy that the Live Coding book came out a couple of weeks ago, on MIT Press. A fresh editorial team at MIT were really helpful and responsive in taking it over the line, with copy-editing helping iron over the different voices in the book into what I think is a great text that I hope people will enjoy.

[…]

 

To access the ebook for free, you have to instead click on the ‘resources’ tab, and find a link to the epub or mobi ebook download there. Of course, this isn’t a mere resource for the book, but the actual book, so that’s a bit like hiding the free download behind a door that says ‘beware of the leopard’. I did negotiate putting some text on the bottom of the page pointing to this badly named tab, but unfortunately the tab could not be changed and the ebook links couldn’t be added to the front page.

[…]

MIT Press Takes Agile Approach to Launching COVID-19 Overlay Journal: Interview with Nick Lindsay

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“When COVID-19 first hit, MIT Press was quick to respond, making relevant book and journal content freely available to help scholars and the general public better understand the pandemic. But, the press’ publishing team wanted to do something more. Like so many in academia, they were becoming concerned with rising instances of false scientific claims entering the mainstream media and eager to stop the spread. Recognizing misinformation in preprints as well as misinterpretation of preprint findings as two primary causes, they began considering ways to flag questionable preprint information while boosting the signal of promising new research.

“Our Press Director Amy Brand and I were talking one day about what we could do, and that’s when the notion of launching an overlay journal of preprint reviews popped up,” said Nick Lindsay, MIT Press’ Director of Journals and Open Access. Lindsay and Brand brought the idea back to their team and began planning what would become Rapid Reviews: COVID-19 (RR:C19), the first multi-disciplinary OA overlay journal for peer reviews of coronavirus-related preprints. MIT Press launched RR:C19 in August 2020….”

Dædalus reaches expanded audiences through open access

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“The MIT Press and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences are pleased to announce that Dædalus, the journal of the American Academy, has significantly increased its audience through moving to open access. During the journal’s first year as an openly available publication, Dædalus saw an increase in online readership, downloaded articles, and citations.

In January 2021, the Press and the Academy announced that Dædalus would transition to an open access journal. At that time, decades of volumes and hundreds of essays were ungated and made freely available. All new issues of Dædalus are now published openly. …”

MIT Press Direct to Open books downloaded more than 176,312 times in ten months

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In 2021, the MIT Press launched Direct to Open (D2O), a bold, innovative model for open access (OA) to scholarship and knowledge. To date, about 50 of the 80 scholarly monographs and edited collections in the Direct to Open model in 2022 have been published and these works have been downloaded over 176,000 times.