video: Free the Science is a business-model changing initiative that will make our research freely available to all readers, while remaining free for authors to publish. It is a new publishing standard for ECS, one of the last independent scientific society publishers. We already give authors the choice to publish their work as Open Access and plan to open access to the entire ECS Digital Library by 2024. view more
Credit: The Electrochemical Society
Pennington, NJ - (Oct. 17, 2016) - ECS is celebrating Open Access Week this year by giving the world a preview of what complete open access will look like. From October 24th through October 30th, we are taking down the paywall to the ECS Digital Library, making over 132,000 scientific articles free and accessible to anyone.
Eliminating the paywall during Open Access Week is a preview of ECS's Free the Science initiative; a business-model changing plan with the goal of making the entire ECS Digital Library open access by 2024. ECS believes that the opening and democratizing of this information will lead to rapid advances in discoveries ranging from renewable energy to clean water and sanitation.
"ECS has one core goal: to disseminate this scientific research to the broadest possible audience without barriers," says Mary Yess, ECS Deputy Executive Director and Chief Content Officer. "The research of our authors has the ability to address some of the most critical issues across the globe, and we believe paywalls should not impede progress."
The ECS Digital Library is home to the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, the flagship journal of ECS, published continuously since 1902, and to the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, ECS Electrochemistry Letters, ECS Solid State Letters, Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, ECS Transactions, ECS Meeting Abstracts, and Interface. The research published in these journals directly address the sustainability of our planet.
"It's extraordinarily important to get that content out there, not only to people who already have access, but to people who need access," Yess says. "Free the Science can assist people all over the world who need the content to create their own solutions to sustainability issues, and we're taking the opportunity of Open Access Week to show the world our vision."
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About ECS
Founded in 1902, ECS is led by scientists, for scientists. ECS advances electrochemistry and solid state science by publishing peer-reviewed scholarly journals, convening scientific meetings, and supporting emerging scientists in our fields. With Free the Science, ECS envisions a new publishing model without costs to authors and readers so that collectively we can achieve a cleaner, safer, healthier, and greener world for us all.
Media Contact
The Electrochemical Society
Rob Gerth
Director of Marketing and Communications
609-737-1902 ext. 114
Rob.Gerth@electrochem.org
Journal
Journal of The Electrochemical Society