Here Comes SCOAP3: Largest Global Open Access Initiative Ever Built Goes Live on January 1, 2014

A formal announcement about the launch of SCOAP3 on January 1, 2014 was made today.
From IP Watch:

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced today that the largest scientific open access initiative ever will begin on 1 January 2014.
The initiative, called the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP3), has the support of partners in 24 countries and will make available a vast portion of scientific articles in the field of high-energy physics, open access at no cost for any author.
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The initiative is looking to expand to other regions.

Much More From the CERN Release:

With the support of partners in 24 countries, a vast fraction of scientific articles in the field of high-energy physics will become Open Access at no cost for any author: everyone will be able to read them; authors will retain copyright; and generous licenses will enable wide re-use of this information.
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Eleven publishers of high-quality international journals are participating in SCOAP3. Elsevier, IOP Publishing and Springer, together with their publishing partners, have been working with the network of SCOAP3 national contact points. Reductions in subscription fees for thousands of participating libraries worldwide have been arranged, making funds available for libraries to support SCOAP3.
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SCOAP3 grants unrestricted access to scientific articles in scientific journals, which so far have only been available to scientists through certain university libraries, and generally unavailable to the wider public.

More in the Complete Announcement from CERN
Direct to SCOAP3 Web Site
See Also: List of SCOAP3 Journals
See Also: Current SCOAP3 Partners ||| Future Partners
See Also: SCOAP3 Steering Committee Member Ann Okerson Recently Discussed the Project in Interviews With Richard Poynder and Emily Gillingham
Previous Posts
See Also: SCOAP3 on Track to Meet Target Start Date, 3 APS Journals Leave Program (June 23, 2013)
See Also: SCOAP3: “Open-Access Deal for Particle Physics” (September 24, 2012)
See Also: Major Milestone for SCOAP3: Invitation to Tender sent to Publishing Partners (June 1, 2012)

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Elsevier, Interviews, Libraries, News, Open Access, Publishing