With Support From the Arcadia Fund, MIT Press Announces New Initiative to Flip Existing Subscription-Based Journals to a Diamond Open Access Publishing Model

From a MIT Press Announcement:

 In keeping with its mission and longstanding commitment to increase access to scholarship, the MIT Press is pleased to announce shift+OPEN. This new initiative is designed to flip existing subscription-based journals to a diamond open access publishing model. Shift+OPEN is generously supported by the Arcadia Fund.

The MIT Press welcomes submissions for English-language journals in any field and from any part of the world. Intended for existing titles, shift+OPEN will cover the expenses of transitioning a journal to open access model for a three-year term, provide the Press’s full suite of publishing services, and support the development of a sustainable funding model for the future. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2023.

“Shift+OPEN seeks to catalyze needed change in journals publishing, introduce authors to new readerships, and increase the reach of vital scholarship that has previously been locked behind paywalls,” says Nick Lindsay, director of journals and open access at the MIT Press. “Thanks to the generous support of the Arcadia Fund, we are delighted to offer this opportunity to journals world-wide.”

The MIT Press has a long history of being at the leading edge of open access journal publishing. From opening access to Computational Linguistics in 2010 to publishing overlay journal Rapid Reviews: COVID-19 in 2020, the Press has embraced the need to broaden the dissemination of its journals while developing new models that work for everyone, including authors, editors, societies, and universities.

In conjunction with the initiative, the MIT Press will host a webinar entitled Going Open Access: An editorial perspective on Monday, March 6 at 12:00 pm est.  Join Vincent Larivière, incoming editor-in-chief of Quantitative Science Studies, Ludo Waltman, outgoing editor-in-chief of Quantitative Science Studies, and Nick Lindsay to explore the transition of the traditionally published Journal of Informetrics to an open access model. Free and open to the public.

Register here.

Filed under: Funding, News, Open Access, Publishing