European Journal of Taxonomy: A Public Collaborative Project in Open Access Scholarly Communication

Abstract

Most natural history institutions in Europe have been scientific publishers sincetheir foundation and have a long scholarly publishing tradition. Nowadays, they areconfronted with rapid technological developments and face complex strategic andtechnical questions related to visibility, access, format, and the financial structure oftheir titles. These issues require a common vision and an international strategy toensure that the community acts in a consistent and coordinated way. A consortiumof institutions is thus launching the European Journal of Taxonomy to provide analternative public open-access business model, where neither authors nor readers haveto pay fees for subscriptions or publication. This paper focuses on the benefits for theinstitutions on taking greater control over their communication process.