Plan S, Core Open Access Publishing Standards & Scholastica

Here's what we're doing to help journals comply with Plan S and meet the highest open access publishing standards.

Scholastica's Role in Sustainable Open Access Publishing and Plan S Compliance

Across academic disciplines, journal publishers are taking steps to comply with Plan S — an initiative by cOAlition S, a consortium of national and international research funders, to make all of the research they fund fully and immediately open access. Plan S, which went into effect on the 1st of January 2021, has ten guiding principles and specific implementation guidelines that publishers must fulfill.

Plan S lists three possible routes to compliance:

Open access publishing venues (journals or platforms)
Subscription venues (repository route)
Transition of subscription venues (transformative arrangements)

At Scholastica, we are working to ensure that all journals that use our peer review system, production service, and open access publishing platform can sustainably meet core publishing standards and become Plan S compliant if they choose. This page represents our product roadmap detailing how Scholastica is helping publishers taking fully open access Plan S compliance routes fulfill all requirements. These product initiatives are also designed to support sustainable open access journal publishing more broadly, to enable publishers of any size to publish high-quality journals more efficiently and affordably. In addition to product details, this page includes some Plan S FAQs and links to further resources.

This is a living roadmap. We will update this page as we introduce new improvements to Scholastica and as any changes to Plan S are released. This Roadmap was last updated on the 17th of April, 2024.

Product Roadmap

Below is a detailed table covering: Plan S technical requirements and recommendations, Scholastica features to help journals fulfill the Plan S guidelines, and the steps publishers should take to ensure the journals they publish via Scholastica are Plan S compliant. This Roadmap is designed for journals taking a fully open access Plan S compliance route.

Plan S guidelines:	Scholastica features:	Publisher next steps:
Journals must be registered in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) or have an application under review.	Journals that are using Scholastica's OA publishing platform and that have been admitted into the DOAJ can now set up automated deposits of their published article metadata into DOAJ. Status: available now	Journals must apply to be included in the DOAJ. Once admitted, journals can easily automate DOAJ metadata deposits from Scholastica. Learn how to set up automated deposits here. You can find an overview of the DOAJ application process here and guidance on how Scholastica OA publishing users should complete the DOAJ application form here.
The journal or platform must enable authors to publish under a CC BY 4.0 license (alternatively CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC0). Note: cOAlition S members may approve the use of the CC BY-ND license for individual articles on a case by case basis.	Journals using Scholastica's OA publishing platform can set a default Creative Commons (CC) copyright license for all published articles. The copyright license is shown on all article pages and included in article-level metadata. Status: available now	Learn more about this feature and how to set a default copyright license for all articles published via Scholastica, here. For more information on the benefits of Creative Commons licenses, check out this blog post.
Deposit content into a long-term preservation or archiving program (e.g., Portico, CLOCKSS).	Scholastica can automatically deposit your published articles and issues into Portico's digital preservation service. Status: Portico integration available now Using CLOCKSS? Scholastica is looking for beta partners to build out a CLOCKSS integration — to learn more please email us.	If you use Scholastica's OA publishing platform and you have a Portico account, you can set up automatic article deposits to Portico. Learn how to set up automated deposits here. If you don't have a Portico account and you want to sign up you can do so on their website.
Have machine-readable metadata for all articles in standard interoperable formats under a CC0 public domain dedication that includes complete funding information, the OA status, and copyright license.	Journals using Scholastica's production service and/or OA publishing platform get machine-readable metadata for all articles in JATS XML files including: Complete funding information OA status Copyright license Status: available now	Scholastica automatically generates rich machine-readable article-level metadata for all journals that use our production service and/or OA publishing platform. You can learn more about how we generate rich article-level metadata here.
Publish journal stats annually, including: the number of submissions, the number of reviews requested, the number of reviews received, the approval rate, and the average time between submission and publication.	Those using Scholastica's peer review system can access raw journal data and reports to compile these stats. Those using Scholastica's OA publishing platform can add a journal stats section to their For Authors page or a custom "Journal Policies" page if more space is needed. Status: available now	To pull stats: Journals using Scholastica's peer review system can access these stats from their Reviewers Table and Journal Analytics Page. Admin editors can also pull their journal's raw data as a series of .csv files to create their own reports. Learn more in this help document. To publish stats: Journals using Scholastica's OA publishing platform can add a stats section to their For Authors page or a custom "Journal Policies" page if more space is needed (available by request).
List clear editorial policies and peer review process details on the journal's website that comply with the standards of its discipline and the COPE guidelines.	Journals using Scholastica's OA publishing platform can add a peer review policies section to their For Authors page. Journals can also create a custom “Journal Policies” page if more space is needed Status: available now	Journals using Scholastica's OA publishing platform can add a peer review policies section to their "For Authors" page. Learn more about what to include in your policies here. Journals that have lengthier policies information for authors (e.g., peer review policies, publication ethics statement) can request to have a custom "Journal Policies" page added to their website if more space is needed.
Publicly state all publication fees (or if you have none) and the costs/factors impacting fees.	Journals using Scholastica's OA publishing platform can add publication fees information to their "For Authors" page. Status: available now	Publishers/journals using Scholastica's OA publishing platform should add a publication fees section to their "For Authors" page using the easy website editor. Find additional info in this blog post.
Submit transparent pricing data: Plan S requires publishers of journals with OA publishing fees (i.e., not Diamond OA) to upload transparent pricing information to the Journal Comparison Service (JCS) on an annual basis using an approved price data collection template in order to remain eligible for cOAlition S member funds.	Plan S explains the delivery method for transparent pricing information in this publisher guide. Journals using Scholastica's Peer Review System can pull required annual publishing statistics from their account. Journals using Scholastica's OA publishing platform that wish to include "Price Transparency Context" on their website can add that information to their "For Authors" page or create a custom "Journal Policies" page if more space is needed. Status: available now	Publishers of journals with OA fees must register to use the Journal Comparison Service (JCS), following the process detailed in this Plan S guide. Once their JCS account is approved, publishers must upload transparent pricing data to JCS annually using one of the approved data collection templates Plan S lists. Journals using Scholastica's Peer Review System can access required peer review stats for JCS uploads (e.g., acceptance rate) from their Journal Analytics Page and by exporting their raw peer review data to calculate additional metrics as needed, following the steps in this help document. Publishers can find all Scholastica pricing information needed for software/service cost reporting on our Pricing page.
Offer publication fee waivers for authors from low-income economies and discounts for authors from lower middle-income economies, as well as waivers and discounts for other authors with demonstrable needs.	Journals using Scholastica's OA publishing platform can add a waiver policy to their For Authors page. Journals using Scholastica's peer review system have the option to integrate with a CCC RightsLink account to more easily manage OA publication charges. RightsLink can apply author fee waivers, discounts, or institutional agreements publishers specify on an article-by-article basis. Status: available now	Journals using Scholastica's OA publishing platform that charge APCs or other publication fees should add a waiver policy to their "For Authors" page using the easy website editor. Publishers interested in setting up a RightsLink integration can do so via the Scholastica publishing account settings page for each of their journals. Learn more here.
Have persistent identifiers such as Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for all articles.	Scholastica offers automated DOI registration and metadata deposits via Crossref. Status: available now	The Crossref registration automation is available to any journal using Scholastica's OA publishing platform that is a Crossref member (learn more about how to apply here). Publishers interested in setting up automated DOI registrations for their journals can do so via their Scholastica publishing account settings.
Recommended by Plan S: Full-text article files available for download in a machine-readable community standard format such as JATS XML (including supplementary text and data).	Scholastica produces full-text XML article files in the JATS standard for all journals that use the Scholastica production service. Status: available now	Journals using Scholastica's production service receive full-text JATS compliant XML files for all articles. Learn more about our production service here.
Recommended by Plan S: Support for additional PIDs for authors (e.g., ORCID), funders, funding programs and grants, institutions, and other relevant entities.	Journals using Scholastica's peer review system can collect author ORCID iDs, funding source information, and institutional information from their submission form. And journals using Scholastica's production service and/or OA publishing platform can include that metadata in their articles. Status: available now	Scholastica's peer review system submission form includes an optional ORCID iD field with validation (and authentication for the corresponding author). Journal admins can customize their submission form to require ORCID iDs and include optional or required sections for institutional and funding information metadata by following the steps in this help document. Journals using Scholastica's production service and/or OA publishing platform should include desired metadata for published articles in their typesetting requests and publishing uploads. Journals subscribed to multiple Scholastica products can import metadata from one solution to another to save time. Note: Scholastica automatically applies ROR IDs for institutions when authors input institution names into our peer review submission form and when editors add institutions to any articles sent to Scholastica's production service or published via our OA hosting platform.
Recommended by Plan S: Register a self-archiving policy in SHERPA/RoMEO.	Journals using Scholastica's Peer Review System and/or OA Publishing Platform that register a self-archiving policy in SHERPA/RoMEO can add those policy details to their For Authors page. Status: available now	You can learn more about how to register a self-archiving policy in SHERPA/RoMEO here. Journals that register a self-archiving policy and use Scholastica's Peer Review System and/or OA Publishing Platform can add the policy details to their For Authors page to ensure authors see them.
Recommended by Plan S: Openly accessible data on citations according to the standards by the Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC).	Journals using Scholastica's production service and/or OA publishing platform get machine-readable metadata for all articles in JATS XML files, including open, machine-readable citations in line with I4OC. Status: available now	Scholastica automatically includes open, machine-readable citations in line with I4OC in the JATS XML metadata we produce for journals using our production service and/or OA publishing platform. You can learn more about our metadata generation process in this blog post.

Plan S FAQs

Answers to some of the most common questions we've heard.

What is Plan S?
Plan S is an initiative launched by Science Europe in September 2018 to make research funded by public or private grants provided by national, regional, and international research councils and funding bodies fully and immediately open access that went into effect on the 1st of January 2021. Plan S is backed by cOAlition S, a consortium of national and international research funders. cOAlition S members include UK Research and Innovation, the Academy of Finland, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Plan S states: "With effect from 2021, all scholarly publications on the results from research funded by public or private grants provided by national, regional and international research councils and funding bodies, must be published in Open Access Journals, on Open Access Platforms, or made immediately available through Open Access Repositories without embargo." At the highest level, in order for a journal to be Plan S compliant it must make research fully and immediately open access upon publication — no embargo models — and it must enable authors or their institutions to retain publication copyright. It must also meet specific technical guidelines.
Where does Scholastica fit into Plan S compliance?
As a scholarly publishing technology solutions provider with peer review and open access publishing software and a digital-first article production service, Scholastica is providing solutions to help journals meet the technical criteria to be Plan S compliant. Scholastica is committed to making publishing high-quality open access journals at an affordable cost a sustainable reality for publishers of any size. We work with many publishers that publish fully open access journals or that are transitioning to open access publishing models. We provide all of the functionality and support that publishers need to successfully produce professional open access journals.
What do I have to do to make my journals Plan S compliant?
Plan S has 10 Principles listed here that include expectations of publishers for compliance as well as commitments from funders. Under Plan S, all published research must be fully and immediately OA under a Creative Commons copyright license and be produced and funded in a transparent way.

Plan S also has specific implementation guidelines. Within the guidelines are technical requirements for journals to be Plan S compliant. As noted above, Scholastica will be supporting these technical requirements for all journals using our open access publishing platform. There are also certain steps that publishers/journals must take towards these requirements (e.g., applying for inclusion in the DOAJ), which are outlined in the table above.
How long will publishers have to make journals Plan S compliant?
Plan S went into effect on 1 January 2021 for all research funded by cOAlition S members after that launch date. For publishers following a "Transformative Arrangements" compliance route, there is a transition timeline for journals to still receive article funding by cOAlition S members. Plan S states, "where cOAlition S members provide funding to support publication fees of journals covered by such arrangements, this funding will cease on the 31st December 2024."

More Plan S FAQs

Here to help you navigate Plan S and sustainable OA publishing

We're committed to helping journal publishers understand Plan S and core open access publishing standards. Visit our blog for useful guides and how-tos including: