SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in
Particle Physics) FAQ
SCOAP3 stands for the “Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics”.
SCOAP3 has developed a model to achieve Gold Open Access to leading peer-reviewed journals in High-Energy Physics (HEP) while eliminating author fees.
Participating publishers have a contract with CERN that pays Article Processing Charges (APCs) for the publication services provided. The publishers then eliminate or reduce subscription costs to all subscribers. The funds previously used to pay the subscriptions are put into a common pool which is then used to cover the APC payments, so authors do not have to.
Image courtesy of SCOAP3: https://scoap3.org/what-is-scoap3/
UVM Libraries subscribes to three journals published by the American Physical Society that are funded by SCOAP3:
UVM's subscription payment for these journals supports the work of all SCOAP3 journals.
Publishing in a SCOAP3 journal does not have any additional steps. When publishing in a SCOAP3 journal, there is no article processing charge (APC) required. After publication, you retain copyright of the article, meaning that you can post it wherever you like and reuse the content in whatever way you see fit.
To find publication instructions, please visit the individual publisher's website. This table includes links to each journal's publication guide.
No. Your ability to publish in a SCOAP3 journal is unrelated to your institutional affiliation. UVM Libraries subscription payment supports the work of all SCOAP3 journals and ensures that authors everywhere do not face APCs when publishing in these journals.
SCOAP3 retains a list of their current publishing partners and journals on their website.
For more information about the definition of high-energy physics content, please see the SCOAP3 FAQs, question 8.
If your article is accepted for publication, it will appear on both the journal publisher's website and the SCOAP3 repository.
Yes. You retain your copyright under a Creative Commons CC-BY license.
Authors retain their copyright, but allow others to access or use their work without consultation or fees under one of several standard Creative Commons licenses. Works licensed under a Creative Commons License must still be cited when used.
"A creative commons license is a license issued by the copyright owner to allow anyone in the world to use his or her copyright work in any manner consistent with that license. Creative Commons licenses are essentially standard form license agreements which can be attached to a work to enable its use under certain circumstances without the need to contact the author or negotiate terms of use."
No. Some SCOAP3 journals may charge other types of fees - page fees, etc. - that are NOT covered by this agreement. This agreement covers APCs only. The APC is waived, but not the other types of fees if this is relevant to a journal.
No. While UVM Libraries support SCOAP3 through our subscriptions, the library has no impact on article acceptance.