Open Access Publishing for
Learned Societies
Experiences of Copernicus Publications
Dr. Xenia van Edig | September 2014
Overview
 Copernicus Publications at a Glance
 Business Model
 Financing
 Service Strategies for Societies
 Case studies
History of Copernicus Publications
 Founding of Copernicus in 1988 as a spin-off of the Max-PlanckInstitute for Solar System Research
 Organization of scientific meetings & conferences since 1988
 1994 Start of Copernicus Publications
 2001 Start of the first open access society journal, followed by the
move of the other journals towards OA
 2014 Copernicus Publications publishes 36 peer-reviewed open
access journals and 17 access-reviewed scientific discussion forums
 31 journals owned by/affiliated to learned societies and other
scientific organizations
 50 Staff members, offices in Göttingen/Germany
 Co-founder of OASPA, member of stm, member of ORCID
 169,000 pages | 7,200 papers published in 2013
Business Model
Customers
 Learned societies
 Scientific institutions
 Groups of researchers
Ownership
 Model 1: Copernicus is owner and publisher (5/36)
 Model 2: Copernicus is the publisher as licensee (30/36)
Copernicus License Model
Leave it to the Scientists
 Partner with scientific associations
 Let societies own titles and let them control the editorial policy
 Listen to scientists and tailor your services
 Participation and transparency for the scientists
Licensing and Start-up Phase
 Agreement on service allowance for Copernicus
 Societies determine the APCs – from waivers to surplus
 Business is run by Copernicus, societies earn license fee
Financing
Article Processing Charges (APCs)
 Page charges  heterogeneous manuscript types
 10% free pages budget
 No extra charges for supplements, coloured figures etc.
 Costs for a 10-pages article: between 550 and 960 Euro
Start-up Phase
 New journals  introduction of APCs after inclusion
in the Web of Science
 Established journals with IF  introduction of APCs
 Time until indexation  journal needs to be supported
 New journals: cross-financing through conferences and memberships
 Existing journals: maintenance of revenues
Service Strategies for Societies
 Presentation: journal-specific web portal and libraries
 Identification: journal = community (e.g. society sub-group)
 Relation to scientists: partnership
 Philosophy: one-stop customized solutions & solid workmanship
 Publisher as a service provider!
Triple OA Strategy
1
OA1 – Open Access to the Manufacture
2
OA2 – Open Access to the Review
3
OA3 – Open Access to the Publications
OA1 – Open Access to the Manufacture
From
Submission…
 1-2 personal contacts for Editors, Referees & Authors
 Online review system
with extended
personal support
…to
Acceptance
Review Process
Publication Production
From Acceptance…
…to
Publication
 Project teams
of 2-3 permanent
staff members
 1 personal contact for Authors from acceptance to
publication
 No limitation on proof-readings
 Open Access Library + Alert Service
 (e)Archiving worldwide
 Indexing in databases
and search engines
OA2 – Open Access to the Review
OA has the Potential to Enhance the Quality!
 Submitted manuscripts can be OA
 Reviewer reports can be OA
 Manuscripts can be discussed OA
 The accepted publication can be OA
Innovative Approach for the Review Process (Optional)
Public Peer-Review & Interactive Public Discussion
 Rapid access-review → publication as discussion paper
 Interactive public discussion: published referee comments, author
comments & comments of the scientific community
 Paper revision & final acceptance → publication as final revised
paper
Designed to
 Foster scientific discussion;
 Maximize the effectiveness and transparency of scientific quality
assurance;
 Enable rapid publication of new scientific results;
 Make scientific publications freely accessible.
Public Peer-Review & Interactive Public Discussion
1. Submission
2. Access Review
3. Technical Corrections
4. Publication as D-paper
Referees
5. Discussion Comments
5
6. Revision
7. Revised Submission
2
8. Peer-Review
Completion
8
Referee
Comments
9. Final Revised
Publication
Author
1
Editor
4
5
3
Discussion
Paper
1st
Stage
(Discussion
Forum)
6
Author
7
9
Author
Comments
Short Comments
2nd Stage
(Journal)
5
Scientific Community
Editor
Final
Revised
Paper
OA3 – Open Access to the Publications
Anyone is free:
to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
to Remix — to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
Attribution. The original authors must be given credit.
Article Level Metrics
 Usage (downloads, views)
 Impact (citations)
 Saved (bookmarks)
 Discussion (social media)
Case Studies – Geographica Helvetica
 Owned by Association Suisse de
Géographie (ASG) and
Geographisch-Ethnographische
Gesellschaft Zürich (GEGZ)
 Supported by Swiss Academy of
Science
 Print-only publication till 2012
 Transition (2012-2014)
 Subscription includes free
online access
 Vol. 67 (2012) OA on 01
January 2013, Vol. 68
(2013) OA on 01 January
2014
 Back files (since 1946): OA
 Immediate OA in 2015!
Case Studies – Annales Geophysicae
 Owned by the European
Geosciences Union (EGU)
 Published by Springer till 2001
 Move to Open Access in 2008
 Introduction of APCs in 2009
Case Studies – Fossil Record
 Owned by Museum für
Naturkunde Berlin
 Published by Wiley till Vol. 16,
Iss. 2 (2013)
 Impact Factor 0.913 (2013)
 OA since 01 January 2014
 Immediate introduction of APCs
Case Studies – Journal of Sensors and Sensor Systems
 Owned by AMA Verband für
Sensorik und Messtechnik
 Newly launched in 2012
 APCs currently waived
 36 articles published
Thank you very much
for your attention!