16 March 2022
EDP Science have announced that the CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, France) has pledged to support the EDP Sciences and SMAI Subscribe-to-Open (S2O) mathematics programme with a financial contribution. The S2O mathematics programme has been developed with the Société de Mathématiques Appliquées et Industrielles (SMAI) with which EDP Sciences publishes a number of maths journals. Together with the funding awarded by the Fonds National pour la Science Ouverte last year, the CNRS contribution will be used to help all the journals included in the programme to continue publishing in open access despite challenging economic conditions.
“Opening science and making the results of CNRS research groups freely available to the whole international scientific community can only strengthen the position of CNRS as a major contributor to the building of knowledge in all domains, and in applied mathematics in particular”, stated Alain Schuhl, Chief Research Officer, CNRS. “CNRS has published its Roadmap for Open Science and believes in supporting equitable and sustainable open access models. The Subscribe-to-Open maths programme is an open science excellent initiative that doesn’t rely on article processing charges.”
The grant for 2021-2024 will be used in three main areas: communications, subscriptions management, and support for publication costs. EDP Sciences and SMAI will be able to engage libraries throughout the world on the subject of S2O in order to foster understanding and support. The grant will also allow them to pursue long-term partnerships which will help to sustain the model and allow it to evolve and thrive. The success of these journals and the appeal of open access is attracting a growing number of authors and articles. Therefore, the funding will help EDP Sciences and SMAI to manage this growth while keeping subscription prices low.
“This is a real boost to SMAI’s work with its partner, EDP Sciences, to promote fair open access through S2O,” commented Amandine Véber, Director of Publications, SMAI. “With the support of the CNRS, which is such a major player in research activities both in France and beyond, I am confident that maths researchers are looking at a bright, open access future. This support also reflects the very strong interest and support of the whole French mathematical community, which made the development of our Subscribe-to-Open model possible.”
“Subscribe-to-Open is still a relative newcomer to the range of open access models and therefore requires more work to aid understanding and acceptance,” commented Agnès Henri, Managing Director, EDP Sciences. “With this generous financial contribution from the CNRS, we will be able to help international libraries better understand S2O and secure their support for journals that have chosen this route. Although communications will focus on the S2O model implemented by EDP Sciences and SMAI, the process will also raise awareness of the model more generally and thus contribute to the development of open and fair publishing models on an international scale.”