FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 29, 2007
APS Contacts
Martin Frank
(301) 634-7253
mfrank@the-aps.org
Margaret Reich
(301) 634-7070
mreich@the-aps.org
American Physiological
Society (APS) Announces New Program To Make Research Results
Immediately Available To The Public
“Author Choice” debuts
July 1, 2007
BETHESDA, MD – Authors who publish with the
American Physiological Society (APS;
www.The-APS.org) and want to provide the public with immediate access to
their research results will now be able to do so under a plan announced
today by the APS.
Under the new program, Author Choice,
researchers who publish their studies in APS journals can make their results
immediately available by paying an open access (OA) fee. The plan, which
takes effect July 1, 2007, also guarantees that researchers who are required
to provide open access as a condition of funding can quickly and easily do
so. Author Choice is one of several recent innovations undertaken by
the 120-year old scientific society to meet 21st century demands.
According to Martin Frank, Ph.D., APS’ Executive
Director, “The history and mission of the APS is to publish research results
that can be used by scientists and benefit the public. Ten years ago we
made online access to our journals immediately available for a nominal fee.
Seven years ago we made all articles free online after 12 months. Two years
ago we made articles available to all patients in need, at no charge. Now we
are letting the researchers and their organizations dictate when the results
of their research are made available to the public free of charge. Given
today’s market forces, it makes sense to let the authors decide what timing
best suits their needs.”
Program Tested Ahead of Roll Out
The plan goes into effect after several years of
experimentation with the APS journal Physiological Genomics. During a
three year period, APS offered authors the choice of whether to pay an open
access fee plus standard author charges. At the end of the test period, 18
percent of authors opted for open access.
“It was very interesting to watch the level of interest
and financial commitment that we found among authors submitting their work
to this publication,” said Margaret Reich, executive editor of the APS
family of journals. “Based on the results of our internal study, we decided
to make the choice plan as widely available as possible. This means that as
publishers we can now offer a mixed model for access and payment to support
the cost of publication.”
Ten Journals to Offer Author Choice Option
Authors who choose immediate access for their work will
pay the $2,000 Author Choice fee, plus the customary author
fees. Open access choice will apply to all of the APS’ 10 monthly research
publications: American Journal of Physiology – Cell Physiology; American
Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism; American Journal of
Physiology – Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology; American Journal of
Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology; American Journal of
Physiology – Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology; American Journal of
Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative & Comparative Physiology; American
Journal of Physiology – Renal Physiology; Journal of Applied Physiology;
Journal of Neurophysiology; and Physiological Genomics.
Some 4,000 Research Articles Have Potential to be
“Open”
According to Frank, the goal of the program is to allow
choice. “There will be many who do not want to pay the cost of the open
access fee from their grant funding, and there will be many who do want to.
As publishers, our duty is to offer them the choice and then implement it.
We are offering the Author Choice option on the approximately 4,000
scientific articles we publish each year. We are very interested in how this
change will affect an industry that is so deeply in transition.”
About the APS
Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells,
tissues and organs function to create health or disease. The American
Physiological is a nonprofit organization devoted to fostering education,
scientific research, and dissemination of information in the physiological
sciences. From its beginnings in 1887 the Society has grown to more than
10,500 researcher-members today. In addition to being a member-based
organization, it is a premier not-for-profit publisher in the life sciences
whose publications are among the most respected and frequently cited in the
world. APS publishes 13 widely acclaimed scholarly journals and recently
posted more than 650,000 pages of historical scientific studies online, some
dating back to 1898.
*****
For further information about the program, log on to
http://www.the-aps.org/authorchoice/
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information
please contact Martin, Frank, Ph.D., Executive Director, American
Physiological Society (APS) at 301.634.7118 or
MFrank@The-APS.org; or Margaret Reich, APS Executive Editor,
301.634.7070 or
MReich@The-APS.org.
|
