FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Candi Clevenger, Communications Manager, (614) 728-3600 ext. 329 or
candi@ohiolink.edu.
COLUMBUS, OHIO (June 1, 2004)—The Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) announced that it will fund half of the publication fee for all faculty and researchers at OhioLINK member institutions whose articles are published in the Public Library of Science’s (PLoS) open-access journals. This commitment demonstrates OhioLINK’s strong support of PLoS both in its role as an advocate for open-access publishing and as a publisher of peer-reviewed journals whose content is freely accessible online.
The Public Library of Science is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource, freely available to all. PLoS publishes peer-reviewed, open-access journals, including PLoS Biology and the forthcoming PLoS Medicine, whose award-winning content has been lauded by international media outlets from the New York Times to le Monde.
OhioLINK, a consortium of 84 Ohio college and university libraries plus the State Library of Ohio, was motivated to support PLoS to help address the difficulties many academic libraries face in maintaining journal collections that have been negatively impacted by a combination of financial constraints and the continued rising costs of traditional journal subscriptions. OhioLINK first demonstrated its support for alternate publishing models by joining BioMed Central, another leading open-access publisher, as an institutional member in November 2003.
“The OhioLINK community considers it essential that open access and other innovations in scholarly communications are given a chance to be evaluated and adopted if successful,” Tom Sanville, Executive Director of OhioLINK, said. “By supporting PLoS, we can foster faculty publication through a potentially more cost effective means, while simultaneously maximizing access to their research.”
“The commitment by OhioLINK to subsidize PLoS publication charges provides a strong incentive for affiliated authors to publish their best work in PLoS open-access journals,” noted Dr. Helen Doyle, PLoS Director of Development and Strategic Alliances. “This innovative channel of support for open access can help to catalyze a widespread transition to open-access publishing in science and medicine, and is a model others should follow.”
Six OhioLINK member libraries provide additional support to PLoS as institutional members. Denison University, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Ohio State University and the College of Wooster are all PLoS institutional members.
OhioLINK’s commitment to fund 50% of the publication fee for PLoS journals will remain in effect indefinitely, although the policy is subject to periodic review.
PLoS provides a full or partial waiver of publication charges for any author who requests one, no questions asked. Any such request is shielded from editors and reviewers to ensure the integrity of the peer-review process.
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The Ohio Library and Information Network, OhioLINK, is a consortium of academic libraries that serves more than 600,000 students, faculty, and staff at 85 institutions. OhioLINK’s membership includes 17 public universities, 23 community/technical colleges, 43 private colleges and the State Library of Ohio. For more information about OhioLINK, visit www.ohiolink.edu.
For more information about PLoS, please contact outreach coordinator Andy Gass [agass@plos.org; (415) 624-1202] or see www.plos.org
.