Open letter to AAAS concerning their new journal Science Advances?

To continue the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science theme, I present the text of a recent open letter I signed to the AAAS concerning their new journal Science Advances.

Thanks to Jonathan Tennant for spearheading this effort. You can read more about the rationale behind writing the letter and the process involved at Jon's blog here. As well, he's listing the other places where the letter is being disseminated.

Dear  AAAS,

This is an open letter concerning the recent launch of the new open access journal, Science Advances. In addition to the welcome diversification in journal choices for authors looking for open access venues, there are many positive aspects of Science Advances: its broad STEM scope, its interest in cross-disciplinary research, and the offering of fee waivers. While we welcome the commitment of the Association to open access, we are also deeply concerned with the specific approach. Herein, we outline a number of suggestions that are in line with both the current direction that scholarly publishing is taking and the needs expressed by the open access community, which this journal aims to serve.

The first of these issues concerns the licensing terms of the journal articles. The default choice of a non-commercial licence (CC BY-NC) places unnecessary restrictions on reuse and does not meet the standards set out by the Budapest Open Access Initiative. Many large funders, including Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust, do not recognise this as an open license. The adoption of CC BY-NC as the default license means that many researchers will be unable to submit to Science Advances if they are to conform to their funder mandates unless they pay for the upgrade to CC BY. There is little evidence that non-commercial restrictions provide a benefit to the progress of scholarly research, yet they have significant negative impact, limiting the ability to reuse material for educational purposes and advocacy. For example, NC-encumbered materials cannot be used on Wikipedia. The non-commercial clause is known to generate ambiguities and uncertainties (see for example, NC Licenses Considered Harmful) to the detriment of scholarly communication. Additionally, there is little robust evidence to suggest that adopting a CC-BY license will lead to income loss for your Association, and the $1,000 surcharge is difficult to justify or defend. The value of the CC BY license is outlined in detail by the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association.

We raise an additional issue with the $1,500 surcharge for articles more than 10 pages in length. In an online-only format, page length is an arbitrary unit that results from the article being read in PDF format. Can the AAAS explain what the additional costs associated with the increased length are that would warrant a 50% increase in APC for an unspecified number of additional digital pages? Other leading open access journals, such as PeerJ, the BMC series, and PLOS ONE, offer publication of articles with unlimited page lengths. The extra costs create constraints that may adversely incentivize authors to exclude important details of their study, preventing replication and hindering transparency, all of which are contrary to the aims of scholarly publication. Therefore it seems counterproductive to impose this additional charge; it discriminates against researchers’ best effort to communicate their findings with as much detail as necessary.

We feel that the proposed APCs and licencing scheme are detrimental to the AAAS and the global academic community. As such, we recommend that Science Advances:

• Offers CC BY as standard for no additional cost, in line with leading open access publishers, so authors are able to comply with respective funding mandates;

• Provides a transparent calculation of its APCs based on the publishing practices of the AAAS and explains how additional value created by the journal will measure against the significantly high prices paid by the authors;

• Removes the surcharges associated with increased page number;

• Releases all data files under CC0 (with CC BY optional), which has emerged as the community standard for data and is used by leading databases such as Figshare and DataDryad.

We hope that you will consider the points raised above, keeping in mind how best to serve the scientific community, and use Science Advances to add the AAAS to the group of progressive and innovative open access scholarly publishers. We hope AAAS will collaborate with the academic community to facilitate the dissemination of scientific knowledge through a journal committed to fully embracing the principles of Open Access.

We kindly request that you allow your response(s) to be made public along with this letter, and look forward to hearing your response soon.

Signatories (please note that we do not formally represent the institutions listed):

1. Jonathan P. Tennant, PhD student, Imperial College London (jonathan.tennant10@imperial.ac.uk, @protohedgehog)
2. Timothée Poisot, University of Canterbury (timothee.poisot@canterbury.ac.nz, @tpoi)
3. Joseph R. Hancock, Montana State University-Bozeman (joseph.hancock1@msu.montana.edu, @Joe_R_Hancock)
4. M Fabiana Kubke, University of Auckland, New Zealand (f.kubke@auckland.ac.nz, @kubke)
5. François Michonneau, University of Florida (fmichon@flmnh.ufl.edu, @FrancoisInvert)
6. Michael P. Taylor, University of Bristol (dino@miketaylor.org.uk, @MikeTaylor)
7. Graham Steel, Open Science, Scotland (steelgraham7@gmail.com, @McDawg)
8. Jérémy Anquetin, Section d’Archéologie et Paléontologie, Switzerland (j.anquetin@gmail.com, @FossilTurtles)
9. Emily Coyte, University of Bristol (emily.coyte@bristol.ac.uk, @emilycoyte)
10. Benjamin Schwessinger, UC Davis (bschwessinger@ucdavis.edu, @schwessinger)
11. Erin C. McKiernan, independent scientist (emck31@gmail.com, @emckiernan13)
12. Tom Pollard, PhD student, University College London (tom.pollard.11@ucl.ac.uk, @tompollard)
13. Aimee Eckert, MRes student, Imperial College London (aee13@imperial.ac.uk, @aimee_e27)
14. Liz Allen, ScienceOpen, San Francisco (liz.allen@scienceopen.com, @LizAllenSO)
15. Dalmeet Singh Chawla, Imperial College London (dalmeets@gmail.com, @DalmeetS)
16. Elizabeth Silva, San Francisco (elizabeth.silva@me.com, @lizatucsf)
17. Nicholas Gardner, Marshall University (nick.gardner@gmail.com, @RomerianReptile)
18. Nathan Cantley, Medical Student, Queens University Belfast (ncantley01@qub.ac.uk, @NathanWPCantley)
19. John Dupuis, Librarian, York University, Toronto (jdupuis@yorku.ca, @dupuisj)
20. Christina Pikas, Doctoral Candidate, University of Maryland (cpikas@gmail.com, @cpikas)
21. Amy Buckland, Librarian, McGill University, Montreal (amy.buckland@mcgill.ca, @jambina)
22. Lenny Teytelman, www.zappylab.com, Berkeley, CA (lenny@zappylab.com), @lteytelman)
23. Peter Murray-Rust, University of Cambridge, UK (peter.murray.rust@googlemail.com), @petermurrayrust)
24. Zen Faulkes, The University of Texas-Pan American, zfaulkes@utpa.edu, @DoctorZen)
25. Robert J. Gay, The University of Arizona/Mission Heights Preparatory High School, AZ, USA (paleorob@gmail.com, @paleorob)
26. Peter T.B. Brett, University of Surrey, UK (peter@peter-b.co.uk, @PeterTBBrett)
27. Anders Eklund, Linköping University, Sweden (andek034@gmail.com, @wandedob)
28. Johannes Björk, Institute of Marine Sciences, Barcelona, Spain (bjork.johannes@gmail.com, @AwfulDodger)
29. William Gunn, Mendeley, London, UK, william.gunn@mendeley.com, @mrgunn)
30. Nitika Pant Pai, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (nitika.pai@mcgill.ca) @nikkiannike
31. Philippe Desjardins-Proulx, Ph.D. student (philippe.d.proulx@gmail.com, @phdpqc).
32. Joshua M. Nicholson, PhD candidate Virginia Tech, VA and founder The Winnower, VA (jnicholson@thewinnower.com, @thewinnower)
33. Scott Edmunds, GigaScience, BGI Hong Kong (scott@gigasciencejournal.com, @SCEdmunds)
34. Steven Ray Wilson, University of Oslo (stevenw@kjemi.uio.no, @stevenRayOslo)
35. Stuart Buck, Vice President of Research Integrity, Laura and John Arnold Foundation (sbuck@arnoldfoundation.org, @stuartbuck1)
36. B. Arman Aksoy, Ph.D. student, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (arman@cbio.mskcc.org, @armish)
37. Nazeefa Fatima, University of Huddersfield, UK (nazeefafatima@msn.com, @NazeefaFatima)
38. Ross Mounce, University of Bath, UK (rcpm20@bath.ac.uk, @rmounce)
39. Heather Piwowar, Impactstory, (heather@impactstory.org), @researchremix
40. Avinash Thirumalai, Ph.D student, East Tennessee State University (thirumalai@goldmail.etsu.edu)
41. Jason Priem, Impactstory (jason@impactstory.org), @jasonpriem
42. Clayton Aldern, University of Oxford, UK (clayton.aldern@gmail.com, @compatibilism)
43. Marcus D. Hanwell, Technical Leader, Kitware, Inc., (mhanwell@kitware.com, @mhanwell)
44. Kristen L. Marhaver, NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Carmabi Foundation (kristenmarhaver@gmail.com, @CoralSci)
45. David Michael Roberts, ARC Research Associate, University of Adelaide (david.roberts@adelaide.edu.au)
46. Brian Hole, Ubiquity Press, UK (brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com, @ubiquitypress)
47. Alexander Grossmann, University of Applied Sciences Leipzig, Germany and co-founder of ScienceOpen, Berlin/Boston (alexander.grossmann@htwk-leipzig.de, @SciPubLab)
48. David L.Vaux, Assistant Director, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia (vaux@wehi.edu.au)
49. John Murtagh, Repository Manager, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine @LSHTMlibrary
50. Alecia Carter, University of Cambridge, UK (ac854@cam.ac.uk, @alecia_carter)
51. Alex O. Holcombe, University of Sydney (alex.holcombe@sydney.edu.au, @ceptional)
52. Ignacio Torres Aleman, Cajal Institute, Madrid. Spain. (torres@cajal.csic.es)
53. Sarah Molloy, Research Support Manager, Queen Mary University of London (s.h.molloy@qmul.ac.uk, @moragm23)
54. John Lamp, Deakin University, Australia (john.lamp@deakin.edu.au, @johnwlamp)
55. Matthew Todd, The University of Sydney and Open Source Malaria, matthew.todd@sydney.edu.au)
56. Anusha Seneviratne, Imperial College London (anushans@hotmail.com, @anushans)
57. Guido Guidotti, Harvard University (guidotti@fas.harvard.edu)
58. Joseph McArthur, Assistant Director, Right to Research Coalition(Joe@RighttoResearch.org, @mcarthur_joe)
59. Carlos H. Grohmann, University of São Paulo, Brazil (guano@usp.br)
60. Jan de Leeuw, University of California Los Angeles, (deleeuw@stat.ucla.edu)
61. Jung H. Choi, Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology (jung.choi@biology.gatech.edu)
62. Ernesto Priego, Centre for Information Science, City University London, UK (Ernesto.Priego.1@city.ac.uk)
63. Brian Pasley, University of California, Berkeley (bpasley@berkeley.edu)
64. Stacy Konkiel, Impactstory.org (stacy@impactstory.org), @skonkiel)
65. Elizabeth HB Hellen, Rutgers University (hellen@dls.rutgers.edu)
66. Raphael Levy, University of Liverpool (rapha@liverpool.ac.uk)
67. Paul Coxon, University of Cambridge (prc39@cam.ac.uk)
68. Nitika Pant Pai, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (nitika.pai@mcgill.ca)
69. David Carroll, Queen’s University Belfast  (carroll.davide@gmail.com, @davidecarroll)
70. Jacinto Dávila, Universidad de Los Andes (jacinto.davila@gmail.com, @jacintodavila)
71. Marco Arieli Herrera-Valdez, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (mahv13@gmail.com, @brujonildo)
72. Juan Pablo Alperin, Simon Fraser University, Canada (juan@alperin.ca)
73. Jan P. de Ruiter, Bielefeld University (jan.deruiter@uni-bielefeld.de, @JPdeRuiter)
74. Xianwen Chen, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (xianwen.chen@nmbu.no, @xianwen_chen)
75. Jeanette Hatherill, Librarian, University of Ottawa, Canada (jeanette.hatherill@uottawa.ca, @jeanetteanneh)
76. Katharine Mullen, University of California Los Angeles (katharine.mullen@stat.ucla.edu)
77. Pedro Bekinschtein, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina (pbekinschtein@fmed.uba.ar; @pedrobek)
78. Quentin Groom, Botanic Garden Meise, Belgium (quentin.groom@br.fgov.be, @cabbageleek)
79. Karen Meijer-Kline, Librarian, Simon Fraser University, Canada (kmeijerk@sfu.ca, @kmeijerkline)
80. Pietro Gatti-Lafranconi, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, UK (pg356@cam.ac.uk, @p_gl)
81. Jeffrey Hollister, USEPA, Narragansett, RI (hollister.jeff@epa.gov, @jhollist)
82. Lachlan Coin, University of Queensland and founder of Academic Karma (l.coin@academickarma.org @AcademicKarma )
83. MooYoung Choi, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Korea (mychoi@snu.ac.kr)
84. Oscar Patterson-Lomba, Harvard School of Public Health (opatters@hsph.harvard.edu)
85. Rowena Ball, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia (Rowena.Ball@anu.edu.au)
86. Daniel Swan, Oxford Gene Technology, UK (Daniel.Swan@ogt.com @DrDanielSwan)
87. Stephen Curry, Imperial College London, UK (s.curry@imperial.ac.uk, @Stephen_Curry)
88. Abigail Noyce, Boston University (anoyce@bu.edu, @abbynoyce)
89. Jordan Ward, UCSF, San Francisco, CA, USA (jordan.ward@ucsf.edu, @Jordan_D_Ward)
90. Ben Meghreblian, criticalscience.com, London, UK (benmeg@benmeg.com, @benmeg)
91. Ethan P. White, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA (ethan.white@usu.edu, @ethanwhite)
92. Sean R. Mulcahy, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA (mulcahy@berkeley.edu, @srmulcahy)
93. Sibele Fausto, University of São Paulo, Brazil (sifausto@usp.br @sibelefausto)
94. Lorena A. Barba, George Washington University (labarba@gwu.edu @LorenaABarba)
95. Ed Trollope, Director, Things We Don’t Know CIC (contact@thingswedontknow.com, @TWeDK)
96. Stephen Beckett, Ph.D. student, University of Exeter (S.J.Beckett@exeter.ac.uk, @BeckettStephen)
97. Andrew D. Steen, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (asteen1@utk.edu, @drdrewsteen)
98. Mari Sarv, Estonian Literary Museum (mari@folklore.ee, @kaskekanke)
99. Noam Ross, Ph.D. Candidate, Ecology, University of California-Davis (nmross@ucdavis.edu, @noamross)
100. Erika Amir, Geologist, Massachusetts, USA (erika.amir@gmail.com, @geoflier)
101. Martin Paul Eve, University of Lincoln (meve@lincoln.ac.uk, @martin_eve)
102. Franco Cecchi, University of Florence (francocecchi337@gmail.com)
103. Jason B. Colditz, University of Pittsburgh (colditzjb@gmail.com, @colditzjb)
104. Philip Spear, postdoc, Northwestern University (philspear@northwestern.edu)
105. Mythili Menon, University of Southern California (mythilim@usc.edu, @mythmenon)
106. Matthew Clapham, University of California Santa Cruz (mclapham@ucsc.edu,@meclapham)
107. Karl W. Broman, University of Wisconsin–Madison (kbroman@biostat.wisc.edu, @kwbroman)
108. Graham Triggs, Symplectic (graham@symplectic.co.uk, @grahamtriggs)
109. Tom Crick, Cardiff Metropolitan University (tcrick@cardiffmet.ac.uk, @DrTomCrick)
110. Diano F. Marrone, Wilfrid Laurier University (dmarrone@wlu.ca)
111. Joseph Kraus, Librarian, University of Denver (joseph.kraus@du.edu, @OAJoe)
112. Steven Buyske, Rutgers University (buyske@stat.rutgers.edu)
113. Gavin Simpson, University of Regina (gavin.simpson@uregina.ca)
114. Colleen Morgan, University of York (colleen.morgan@york.ac.uk @clmorgan)
115. Kara Woo, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, UC Santa Barbara (woo@nceas.ucsb.edu, @kara_woo)