The SCOAP3 process has advanced steadily and methodically in recent months.
Recently, leading publishers of high-quality peer-reviewed journals carrying content in the field of High-Energy Physics have expressed their intention to accompany SCOAP3 in the implementation of its Open Access initiative. Key SCOAP3 principles are perpetual Open Access, wide re-use licenses, and reduction and re-direction of subscription fees for journals carrying SCOAP3 content.
Over the next few weeks, SCOAP3, together with the publishers, will enter the crucial next phase of the project. CERN, for the benefit of SCOAP3, will issue a formal Invitation to Tender to the publishers.This process aims to identify, by June 2012, publishers and journals to which a contract for Peer-Review and Open-Access services could be awarded, as well as the amount of each contract.
In parallel, as the initiative moves to its implementation phase, the international SCOAP3Steering Committee will prepare a vision and proposal for a diverse and inclusive governance and an effective operational structure.
Given the progress to date, SCOAP3 is asking libraries, library consortia and funding agencies that have pledged support, as well as those with whom partnerships are currently being forged, to engage with the process over the next months. In the near future, SCOAP3 partners, in association with CERN, will reach out to our constituencies to prepare and sign Memoranda of Understanding in anticipation of the start of the operations.