The Governing Council (GC) of the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP3) gathered at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, from October 23-24, 2025. A quorum of 40 out of 46 voting members was present, representing diverse geographical regions including Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. The GC welcomed four countries that joined the initiative in 2024: Chile, Lithuania, Estonia, and Slovenia.
At this meeting, the Governing Council received comprehensive updates on the initiative’s operations over the past year, including publisher compliance, the activities of the Executive Committee, the performance of participating journals, and financial reports. Of particular significance was the successful first evaluation period of the Open Science elements introduced in Phase 4 contracts at the beginning of 2025. The evaluation demonstrated overall strong results from the publishers in transparency and accessibility, while identifying areas for improvement in persistent identifiers, metadata completeness, and dataset and software linking. The initiative continues to deliver exceptional value, with a maintained average low cost per article and a continuing growth of articles published.
The GC was presented with updates on the SCOAP3 for Books program. The Open Books Working Group, reconvened in 2025 to address a surplus accumulated over previous phases, reported on their deliberations and strategic decisions. After exploring various options, the group decided to launch a new backlist conversion program and continue the frontlist program with expanded publisher participation and stricter selection criteria. The 2025 backlist program resulted in the selection of 30 books to be converted to open access from three publishers (Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and World Scientific). The frontlist program successfully selected 9 titles with pledges from 40 partners. Usage statistics continue to demonstrate the impact of open access conversion, with books being accessed all over the world.
The GC voted unanimously on two governance motions. Jiří Jirát from the CzechELib National Centre, Czech Republic, and Mehmet Mirat Satoğlu from ULAKBIM, Türkiye, were each re-appointed to the Executive Committee for second two-year terms covering 2026 and 2027. Additionally, Kerstin Stieg from OBSVG Austria was appointed as a new member of the Executive Committee for a first two-year term (2026-2027), succeeding Anna Vernon from the United Kingdom who had reached the maximum number of terms.
The meeting featured extensive interactive workshop sessions facilitated by Matt Thompson, during which the GC engaged in strategic planning for the future phase of the consortium. Over the course of both days, members participated in breakout groups to explore potential scenarios for Phase 5, identify stakeholder needs, and address emerging challenges in the scholarly communication landscape.
Following these strategic discussions, the GC approved the establishment of two working groups to advance the initiative’s future planning. Both working groups will be composed of Executive Committee members and additional GC members, with operations beginning in January 2026.
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SCOAP3 remains the world’s largest open access initiative, consisting of over 3,000 member institutions across 47 countries, regions, and territories. In continuous operation for over a decade, SCOAP3 has supported the open access publishing of over 79,000 articles across leading journals in the discipline, covering over 90% of research published in high-energy physics. The initiative has also successfully expanded its efforts to deliver open access to key monographs and textbooks supporting research and teaching in high-energy physics and related fields.