Which journals are eligible for the platform?
The following can become overlay journals on Episciences:
- Existing journals wishing to free themselves from a commercial editorial environment or already in Open Access to gain autonomy;
- Journals in the process of being created that want an environment that favours a simple, flexible and highly visible deployment.
To be published in an overlay journal, an article must be accessible in Open Access before the evaluation process. Authors must have previously deposited their full text on a public open repository.
Eligibility criteria
Consistency with the Episciences publication model
- The journals have an informed knowledge of the Episciences diamond model and its articulation with open repositories.
- Open licenses are associated with articles (Episciences recommends the CC-BY license).
- Journals support the regular posting of content online.
Respect for open standards and good practice in scientific publishing
- The scientific evaluation of content is carried out by peers according to described and clearly displayed procedures.
- The composition and operating procedures of editorial bodies are publicly displayed.
- The journals publicly display their editorial line.
- Episciences pays particular attention to the procedures implemented to ensure the respect of scientific integrity (recommendations for peer-reviewing, constitution and availability of data, respect of COPE good practices, etc.).
Operational feasibility
- Journals have the resources to manage the editorial process.
- The title of the journal is owned by a non-profit legal entity.
Follow-up of the application procedure
- In the first stage, the applicants discuss their applications with the CCSD.
- In a second step, they must fill in an application form and provide all the elements necessary for the evaluation of their applications.
Application evaluation process
The epi-committees of the concerned disciplinary field organise the scientific evaluation of the application. In the absence of a competent epi-committee for the discipline in question, the Episciences Steering Committee solicits two scientific experts from outside Episciences.
The CCSD provides internal expertise on the editorial project and its technical, legal and organisational feasibility.
The Episciences Steering Committee decides on the applications. It may request clarifications from the epi-committees (or from scientific experts if there is no existing epi-committee in the field of the journal) and from the CCSD. In the event of a dispute between the Steering Committee and the epi-committees regarding a journal’s application to Episciences, the members of both bodies will engage in discussions to reach a satisfactory and consensual solution for the stakeholders. The management of the SDAC is the last resort to make a decision.
The Chair of the Steering Committee and the management of the CCSD will inform the journals of the decision taken and the reasons for it within a maximum of 30 days of the decision being made. If the application is accepted, the journals accept and sign the Episciences Terms of Use.