Addendum to the cOAlition S Guidance on theImplementation of Plan S: open for consultation
cOAlition S endorse a number of strategies to encourage subscription publishers to transition toOpen Access. These approaches are referred to as ’transformative arrangements’ and include
transformative agreements, transformative model agreements and transformative journals1.
The Guidance on the Implementation of Plan S indicates an ambition of developing a frameworkfor ‘transformative journals’. Such ‘transformative journals’ are journals that (i) gradually increase
the share of Open Access content, (ii) offset subscription income from payments for publishing
services (to avoid double payments), and (iii) have a clear commitment to a transition to full and
immediate Open Access for all peer-reviewed scholarly articles within an agreed timeframe.
The requirements below constitute this framework.

Mandatory criteria for Transformative Journals
1. A Transformative Journal will need to demonstrate an annual increase in the Open Accesspenetration rate of at least 8 percent points year-on-year2, and either:
1. commit to transition to full Open Access at the latest when the Open Access penetration
rate has passed 50%,or
2. commit to transition to full Open Access by an agreed timeline and at the latest on the31 December 2024.
2. The Transformative Journal must make all Open Access content available in accordance with thePlan S requirements3.
3. The Transformative Journal must demonstrate transparent pricing, including a breakdown ofprices based on the services it provides.44. The Transformative Journal must adopt mechanisms to avoid undue publication barriers, byoffering waivers and discounts to authors in line Plan S Guidance.

1As stated in the Guidance, cOAlition S members may, but are not obliged to, provide funding to support
publication fees of journals covered by such arrangements. A fundamental principle of these transformative
arrangements is that they are temporary and transitional: where cOAlition S members provide funding tosupport publication fees of journals covered by such arrangements, this funding will cease on the 31 December
2024. cOAlition S urges individual researchers, research institutions, other funders, and governments not tofinancially support ‘hybrid’ Open Access publishing when such fees are not part of transformative
arrangements.
2Numbers are averaged using a three-year rolling period.
3Plan S implementation guidelines: https://www.coalition-s.org/principles-and-implementation/
4
Pricing transparency requirements will be informed by the outcome of the cOAlition S project, “Transparentcommunication of Open Access publishing services and their prices”, see
http://www.informationpower.co.uk/news/press-release-transparent-comms-of-oa-services-and-prices/.

5. The Transformative Journal must implement transparent pricing for the remaining subscription
content, ensuring that institutions purchasing a subscription to a transformative journal will pay
only for remaining subscription content, and not for Open Access (OA) articles paid for either
directly by APCs or through any other means (e.g. Read and Publish / Publish and Read deals)5.
6. The Transformative Journal must agree to at least overall cost neutrality over the course of its
global transition to a fully Open Access business model.
7. The Transformative Journal should regularly update its authors on the usage, citations, andonline attention of their published articles.
8. The publisher of the Transformative Journal must provide an annual public report to cOAlition S
to measure progress and demonstrate compliance with the requirements for TransformativeJournals and to report on the Open Access article usage, citations and cost per download
compared with the subscription content published in the transformative journal.
9. A publisher who wishes to qualify for having journals acknowledged as transformative journals
by cOAlition S should clearly and publicly announce its commitment to gradually transition all thejournals it owns, as well as the maximum number of the other journals they publish, to full andimmediate Open Access publication of all primary research.

Recommended additional criteria for publishers of transformative journals
10. When relevant, the publisher should encourage and support academic learned societies andother parties whose subscription journals they publish in the transition to full and immediate
Open Access.
11. The publisher should demonstrate to authors of primary research articles the benefits of Open
Access using article metrics both prior to submission, at submission, and, particularly at the point
when an author chooses between the Open Access and non-OA option.
12. The publisher should (i) pursue Transformative Agreements that convert resources currently
spent by libraries, consortia and others on journal subscriptions into funds to support sustainable
Open Access business models, (ii) make Transformative Agreements available where institutions,consortia or research funding bodies are willing to use them and to scale them when in place,and (iii) ensure that all their Transformative Journals are included in Transformative Agreements,
as soon as possible. Information relating to these three ambitions should be made available fromthe publisher web site.
Consultation

We are now seeking input from the community on this draft framework and encourage allinterested stakeholders to respond. The consultation on this draft framework is open until
09.00 CET on Monday 6th January 2020. We plan to publish a final version of this frameworkby the end of March 2020.
5See the Royal Society’s model as good example of transparent subscription pricing2