Plan S: UKRI joins European open-access ‘revolution’

UK Research and Innovation has joined 10 other European funders in signing up to the European Union’s ambitious open-access initiative, requiring all researchers it supports to avoid publishing in subscription-based journals.

Unveiled on 4 September and called “cOAlition S” by the signatories, the initiative has grown out of the Plan S scheme orchestrated by Robert-Jan Smits, the European Commission’s former top R&D official (pictured).

Signatories—including national funders from the UK, France and the Netherlands—will require supported researchers to publish only in open-access outlets the funders consider high quality and at a capped price. The agreement will also ban publishing in so-called hybrid journals that mix subscription and open-access content.