Washington, DC—The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) is pleased to announce a two-year transformational open access (OA) pilot agreement between Jisc and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The “Publish-and-Read” agreement will allow corresponding authors at participating institutions in the United Kingdom to publish OA articles in PNAS without incurring article page charges. Researchers at participating Jisc institutions will also be able to access all PNAS content, dating back to 1915, free of charge. This is the first such agreement between PNAS and a national consortium; Jisc consists of 156 UK universities.

Ken Fulton, PNAS publisher and NAS executive director, says, “We are very pleased to have reached this pilot agreement with Jisc, which ensures that authors from UK universities have a Plan S–compliant route to open access publishing in PNAS. We look forward to analyzing data from this pilot as we explore open access business models. We are also excited to launch our fully open access journal, PNAS Nexus, in 2022.”

The two-year pilot agreement, which runs from July 2021 to June 2023, enables immediate OA publication in PNAS for authors from UK higher-education institutions and research organizations that opt in—in exchange for a flat annual fee covered by Jisc. Based on recent publishing data, the deal is expected to cover 100% of UK research output published in PNAS.  

Caren Milloy, director of licensing at Jisc, says, “We are delighted to have secured an agreement with NAS which reduces costs for our members and provides Plan S–compliant open access publishing whilst giving UK universities access to the PNAS journal. The agreement is further evidence of Jisc’s commitment to supporting society publishers developing open access models.”

The agreement represents a significant step toward the overall goal of the NAS and other society publishers to develop sustainable OA models in scientific publishing.

About PNAS
PNAS is one of the world's most widely cited and comprehensive multidisciplinary scientific journals, publishing more than 3,500 research papers annually. As the official journal of the NAS, PNAS is an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans the biological, physical, and social sciences. The journal is global in scope, with submission open to researchers worldwide. Since its establishment in 1914, PNAS has worked to publish high-quality scientific research and to make that research accessible to a broad audience.

About Jisc
Jisc’s vision is for the United Kingdom to be the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world. At its heart is the super-fast national research and education network, Janet, with built-in cyber security protection. Jisc also provides technology solutions for its members (colleges, universities, and research centers) and customers (public sector bodies), helps members save time and money by negotiating sector-wide deals, and provides advice and practical assistance on digital technology. Jisc is funded by the UK higher and further education and research funding bodies and member institutions.

For more information, contact the PNAS News Office at PNASNews@nas.edu. You may also contact faye.holst@jisc.ac.uk, or call 07443 983571.