Pluto Journals Successfully Flips its Entire Journal Portfolio to Open Access in Partnership with Knowledge Unlatched Using the Subscribe-to-Open Model
An Open Access initiative using the Libraria Subscribe-to-Open model
London / Berlin, January 12th, 2021: Pluto Journals, the social sciences publisher based in London, UK, has successfully reached the goal to flip its complete journal portfolio of 21 journals to Open Access from 2021 onwards.
The project “Pluto Open Journals” was realized in partnership with Knowledge Unlatched (KU), and supported by the conceivers of the ground-breaking Subscribe-to-Open (S2O) model, Libraria, a group of anthropologists and other social scientists committed to Open Access. Pluto Journals has asked those libraries and institutions currently subscribing to any of the journals to renew for 2021 on an S2O basis, thus contributing to making these journals completely free to readers and authors all over the world.
"This pilot is a great example of how the transformation for journals in the humanities and social sciences can succeed and proves that the move to Open Access with the support of current subscribers can be done for publishers of all sizes," says Pluto Journals’ Managing Director Roger Van Zwanenberg.
Dr. Sven Fund, KU’s Managing Director, said: "We are pleased to have been part of this ground-breaking endeavor from Pluto Journals, which demonstrates how readily a complete journal portfolio can be made Open Access by working with those institutions who already value the publications."
"We are convinced that publishing the portfolio of journals Open Access will greatly benefit the global scholarly community,” says Philipp Hess, Head of Publisher Relations at KU. "It showcases a sustainable solution to Open Access by embracing the content and minimizing the change needed by all players involved.”
In addition to relying on EBSCO and other subscription agents, Pluto Journals was supported by KU in introducing the S20 model to libraries and by independent publishing consultant, Pippa Smart, to develop its Open Access strategy. By building on the current subscription processes, the S2O model involves librarians in their existing roles as decision-makers and curators as to which journals merit support, in this case on behalf of readers worldwide as the journals move to Open Access.
About Pluto Journals
Pluto Journals was established as an independent publisher of social science and humanities journals in 2009. It currently publishes 21 journals in partnership with institutions, universities and other organizations on a variety of subjects including politics, current affairs, international studies, law, political economy and Arab and Islamic studies.
Contact
Roger Van Zwanenberg, Managing Director, Pluto Journals
About Knowledge Unlatched (KU)
KU offers every reader worldwide free access to scholarly content. The online platform enables libraries worldwide to centralize their support for Open Access models from leading publishers and new initiatives in favor of Open Access.
Contact
Philipp Hess, Publicity & Communications
philipp@knowledgeunlatched.org
