SCOAP3 tendering process is complete

SCOAP³ is pleased to announce that its tendering process is now complete.

Acting for the benefit of SCOAP³, CERN conducted the tendering process and, on the basis of the bids submitted by publishers, has identified 12 journals from 7 publishers for participation in SCOAP³. This open and competitive procedure took into account the quality of the journals (as measured by Impact Factor), the quality of the services provided (as measured by re-use licenses and delivery formats), and the unit price for publishing each article.

Over 6’600 articles eligible for inclusion in SCOAP³ were published in these journals in 2011, comprising the vast majority of the high-quality peer-reviewed literature in the field of High Energy Physics.

Articles funded by SCOAP³ will be available Open Access in perpetuity, under a CC-BY license, while publishers will reduce their subscription fees accordingly. Detailed technical specifications are publicly available

Taking into account the projected SCOAP³ budget envelope of 10M 5M EUR/year, publishers and journals to which a contract for Peer Review, Open Access and related publishing services may be awarded, include, in alphabetical order:

• American Physical Society
  • Physical Review C
  • Physical Review D
• Elsevier
  • Physics Letters B
  • Nuclear Physics B
• Hindawi
  • Advances in High Energy Physics
• Institute of Physics Publishing / Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Chinese Physics C
• Institute of Physics Publishing/SISSA
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
• Institute of Physics Publishing/Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
  • New Journal of Physics
• Jagiellonian University
  • Acta Physica Polonica B
• Oxford University Press/Physical Society of Japan
  • Progress of Theoretical Physics (To become PTEP)
• Springer/Società Italiana di Fisica
  • European Physical Journal C
• Springer/SISSA
  • Journal of High Energy Physics

In addition, CERN and SCOAP³ will collaborate with leading publishers to foster Open Access to selected articles of relevance for HEP, including the APS high-impact factor journal Physical Review Letters.

CERN will publish the agreed upon prices for the SCOAP³ article processing charges after the next session of its Finance Committee, to take place on September 19th, 2012.

The effective award of contracts, covering content which will be published in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016, will follow the successful conclusion of three next crucial steps in the SCOAP³ process, already well underway:

1. reconciliation of subscription fee reductions between publishers and SCOAP³ participating libraries, to take place in the last quarter of 2012;
2. conclusion of a memorandum of understanding between CERN and SCOAP³ Partners, which will define a robust governance structure to oversee the operation and future development of SCOAP³.
3. completion of the SCOAP³ budget envelope through re-direction of those subscription funds by existing and prospective partners.

Additional information will be forthcoming, on a regional basis, in the coming weeks.