Scientists urge Swedish council not to join Plan S

A group of 133 social scientists has called on the Swedish Research Council to not join Plan S, an initiative to ensure that all research funded by signatories is freely accessible.

In an open letter to the Swedish Research Council on 28 January, the scientists said they worry that the initiative will harm research. Whereas they support the principle of open access, the Plan S proposal could impose significant restrictions on where research can be published.

Plan S does not allow publication in journals that are not free to read, “a criterion that excludes more than 75 per cent of the internationally leading journals featuring humanities and the social sciences”, said the group. The researchers said that the plan would force them to publish in journals that lack the scientific foundation and resources to produce “prioritised, edited and collegially reviewed content”.