Proposal to establish a Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics

In the present proposal, the publishers' subscription income from multiple institutions is replaced by an "author-side" funding. Journals are paid through contracts between publishers and a single financial partner, the "Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics" (SCOAP3). SCOAP3 is envisioned as a global network of funding agencies, research laboratories, and libraries that will contribute the necessary funding; each SCOAP3 partner will recover its contribution from the cancellation of journal subscriptions. This model avoids the obvious disadvantage of authors being directly charged for the OA publication of their articles, which is perceived as an even higher barrier than subscription charges, in particular for theoretical physicists from small institutions who account for the vast majority of HEP papers. The financing and governance of SCOAP3 will follow as much as possible the example of the memoranda of understanding governing large research collaborations. Its partners will contribute on a pro-rata basis according to the number of scientific publications from their country or laboratory in a reference period.