Annual Review of Cancer Biology uses Subscribe to Open to publish 2020 volume open access

Nonprofit publisher Annual Reviews is pleased to announce that the 2020 volume of the Annual Review of Cancer Biology has been converted from gated to open access, with all articles published under a CC BY license. The back volumes, dating from 2017, are also freely available. The Annual Review of Cancer Biology is one of five journals included in a 2020 pilot program for Subscribe to Open. The status of the four other journals will be announced as they publish.

Subscribe to Open is a solution for sustainable open access publishing that provides an alternative to article processing charges (APCs), the mechanism used by most open access journals. It uses existing library relationships and subscription purchases to convert gated journals to open access. Institutions simply continue to subscribe–there are no additional processes–and as long as subscription revenues are maintained, the year’s volume is published open access and the back volumes made freely available.

The Co-Editors of the Annual Review of Cancer Biology, Tyler Jacks, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and Charles L. Sawyers, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA each responded to the news:

Dr. Jacks said, “I know I speak for the entire editorial committee as well as all of our authors in saying how important this conversion to open access is. The reviews published in the Annual Review of Cancer Biology help to guide the field for investigators throughout the world and across disciplines. Having the journal be openly available to cancer researchers wherever they may be is a truly significant advance.”

Dr. Sawyers said, “I couldn’t be more pleased with this decision to move to open access. The Annual Review of Cancer Biology describes the most exciting and compelling developments in cancer. With open access, this work is now freely accessible to an even broader set of stakeholders, including policy makers who can use the insights to help shape future decisions about resource allocation and access to novel technologies and medicines.”

Richard Gallagher, President and Editor-In-Chief of Annual Reviews, paid tribute to the journal’s loyal subscribers. “We share a common interest with librarians in full and free access to the scientific literature and it is their wholehearted support that has allowed us to convert the Annual Review of Cancer Biology to open access. Subscribe to Open is a simple, transparent and cost-effective solution and I hope that it will become established as a practical addition to the open access toolbox.” Dr. Gallagher added, “We thank the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for funding the development of Subscribe to Open, which we undertook in partnership with Raym Crow, Managing Partner, Chain Bridge Group, whose insights underpin the approach.”

The four other journals in the pilot program, publishing throughout the year, are the Annual Review of Public Health, Annual Review of Political Science, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, and Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science.

###

About Annual Reviews: Annual Reviews is a nonprofit publisher dedicated to synthesizing and integrating knowledge for the progress of science and benefit of society. Follow @AnnualReviews.

About Subscribe to Open: Subscribe to Open is a new pathway to open access for Annual Reviews. It empowers libraries to use their existing collection budgets to make world-leading review journals open to everyone.

For further information or to set up an interview, contact Liz Allen, Director of MarCom and Strategic Development at Annual Reviews.