After Coalition S disrupted scientific publishing, new plan retreats from strict requirements
After Coalition S disrupted scientific publishing, new plan retreats from strict requirements
The group’s latest strategy emphasizes consultation, lacks spending pledges
In 2018, a group of national and philanthropic scientific funders, many based in Europe, shook up scientists and publishers worldwide with a new rule: Starting in 2021, their grantees had to publish their research findings immediately free to read. The controversial move, called Plan S (for “shock,” by some accounts), has been credited with helping boost the share of all newly published scientific papers published as open access above 50%.
Today, Coalition S, the group of 28 organizations behind that effort, released a new, 5-year strategy that aims to build on Plan S—but with no teeth and a broader view on how to improve an industry many view as slow to change. “I would have hoped for something more disruptive, which is what the coalition stood for when they started,” says information scientist Stefanie Haustein at the University of Ottawa. (Science, USA, 12.11.2025)