{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,28]],"date-time":"2026-03-28T21:13:01Z","timestamp":1774732381027,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,4,9]],"date-time":"2018-04-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1523232000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Publications"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Gigantic particle accelerators, incredibly complex detectors, an antimatter factory and the discovery of the Higgs boson\u2014this is part of what makes CERN famous. Only a few know that CERN also hosts the world largest Open Access initiative: SCOAP3. The Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics started operation in 2014 and has since supported the publication of 20,000 Open Access articles in the field of particle physics, at no direct cost, nor burden, for individual authors worldwide. SCOAP3 is made possible by a 3000-institute strong partnership, where libraries re-direct funds previously used for subscriptions to \u2018flip\u2019 articles to \u2018Gold Open Access\u2019. With its recent expansion, the initiative now covers about 90% of the journal literature of the field. This article describes the economic principles of SCOAP3, the collaborative approach of the partnership, and finally summarizes financial results after four years of successful operation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/publications6020015","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,4,10]],"date-time":"2018-04-10T13:06:08Z","timestamp":1523365568000},"page":"15","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Converting the Literature of a Scientific Field to Open Access through Global Collaboration: The Experience of SCOAP3 in Particle Physics"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3836-8885","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexander","family":"Kohls","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0762-2235","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Salvatore","family":"Mele","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,4,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2018, February 20). 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Available online: http:\/\/webzine.web.cern.ch\/webzine\/6\/papers\/1\/index.html."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"(2016). Editorial: Keep Posting. Nat. Phys., 12, 719. Available online: https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nphys3862.","DOI":"10.1038\/nphys3862"},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Berners-Lee, T.J. (2018, February 20). Information Management: A Proposal. Available online: https:\/\/cds.cern.ch\/record\/369245."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Suber, P. (2012). What is Open Access. Open Access, MIT Press.","DOI":"10.21428\/93b40405.a0e5410c"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"345","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-009-0111-1","article-title":"Citing and Reading Behaviours in High-Energy Physics","volume":"84","author":"Mele","year":"2010","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Bianco, S., Ellestad, O.H., Ferreira, P., Friend, F., Gargiulo, P., Hanania, R., Henrot-Versille, S., Holtkamp, A., Igo-Kemenes, P., and Jarroux-Declais, D. (2018, February 21). Towards Open Access Publishing in High Energy Physics: Report of the SCOAP3 Working Party. Available online: https:\/\/scoap3.org\/files\/Working_Party_Report.pdf."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"(2018, February 20). SCOAP3 Invitation to Tender\u2014Technical Specification. Available online: https:\/\/scoap3.org\/files\/Technical_Specification.pdf."},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"(2018, January 17). RCUK Policy on Open Access. Available online: http:\/\/www.rcuk.ac.uk\/documents\/documents\/rcukopenaccesspolicy-pdf\/."},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"(2018, February 20). FWF Open Access Policy. Available online: http:\/\/www.webcitation.org\/6xNFwtASf."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Krause, J., Lindqvist, C.M., and Mele, S. (2018, February 20). Quantitative Study of the Geographical Distribution of the Authorship of High-Energy Physics Journals. Available online: https:\/\/cds.cern.ch\/record\/1033099."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"(2018, February 20). SCOAP3 Participating Countries. Available online: http:\/\/www.webcitation.org\/6xNFlBz9R."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"(2018, February 20). What is SCOAP3: Governance. Available online: http:\/\/www.webcitation.org\/6xNFpARKE."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Romeu, C., Gentil-Beccot, A., Kohls, A., Mansuy, A., Mele, S., and Vesper, M. (2018, February 20). The SCOAP3 Initiative and the Open Access Article-Processing-Charge Market: Global Partnership and Competition Improve Value in the Dissemination of Science. Available online: https:\/\/cds.cern.ch\/record\/1735210\/."},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"(2018, February 20). SCOAP3 Phase 1 Journals. Available online: http:\/\/www.webcitation.org\/6xNG2CUt1."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Ahlborn, B., Ambler, C., Andrae, M., Apel, J., Becker, H.-G., Bertelmann, R., Beucke, D., Blume, P., Blumtritt, U., and Braun, K. (2018). Datasets on Fee-Based Open Access Publishing across German Institutions, Bielefeld University."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Shamash, K. (2018, January 15). Article Processing Charges (APCs) and Subscriptions\u2014Monitoring Open Access Costs. Available online: https:\/\/www.jisc.ac.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/apc-and-subscriptions-report.pdf."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"(2018, January 15). SCOAP3 Forum 2017 Presentation. Available online: https:\/\/scoap3.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Webinar-Dec-2017.pdf."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"(2018, January 17). InspireHEP. Available online: http:\/\/inspirehep.net\/?ln=en."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"(2018, February 20). SCOAP3 News: APS Joins SCOAP3. 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