EAGER: shift+OPEN: Catalyzing the transition to diamond open access

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will assess the viability of a distinctive approach to stimulate the uptake of Open Access (OA) in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and HSS (humanities and social sciences) journals. Goals include flipping two journals currently being published using a subscription model at another publisher and migrate that journal to a sustainable diamond OA model. The proposal addresses the urgency and risk in the need for new sustainability models,and will analyze a novel financial framework and the strategic viability of a new potentially high-impact publishing model for advancing and sustaining the outputs of scientific and scholarly research on a fully unencumbered open access basis. The hypothesis is that a robust diamond publishing program will help to accelerate STEM and HSS research (although not necessarily at the same rate), and by so doing, incentivize the creation and advancement of knowledge. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.