Now accepting applications
shift+OPEN
An MIT Press initiative to flip subscription journals to open access.
The MIT Press welcomes applications for shift+OPEN, our new program designed to flip existing subscription-based journals to a diamond open access publishing model. With generous funding from the Arcadia Fund, 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.
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 our journals while developing new models that work for everyone, including authors, editors, societies, and universities.
The MIT Press worked with the leadership of the ISSI to create Quantitative Science Studies (QSS) after the resignation of the editorial board of the subscription-based Journal of Informetrics (JOI), in 2019. This works predates shift+OPEN, but illustrates some outcomes of flipping a journal to open access. Download the QSS Case Study [PDF]
What will shift+OPEN provide?
- Funding to cover the expenses of transitioning your journal to open access model, for a term of up to three years.
- The MIT Press’s full suite of publishing services, including production, marketing, financial management, hosting, abstracting and indexing, and manuscript management software.
- Support for developing a sustainable funding model to keep the journal publishing OA beyond the end of the term.
Key dates
- March 6, 2023
webinar with editors of Quantitative Science Studies, register here
- March 31, 2023
deadline for applications - April 30, 2023
finalists are contacted - Summer 2023
winner announced
Is your journal eligible?
We welcome submissions for journals in any field, and we especially encourage submissions on behalf of titles that are in fields that have been slower to embrace open access publishing. We have no geographic restrictions and welcome submissions from any part of the world.
This program is intended for existing titles that have been publishing in English for a minimum of three years using a subscription model. It is not open to new journal launches or journals that are currently open access. We anticipate publishing only in a digital format but will consider submissions that have a print component.
Applications will be evaluated by a committee of MIT faculty and MIT Press staff members.
Contact
If you have any questions please contact our Journals and Open Access Director Nick Lindsay at nlindsay (at) mit.edu.