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v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 714 entries across 20 domains · CC-BY 4.0714 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack EStablev2026.2

Plan S

An open-access publishing policy launched in September 2018 by cOAlition S requiring that, from January 2021, scholarly publications resulting from research funded by member organisations be made openly available immediately upon publication under an open licence.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A grant holder publishes in a fully OA journal with CC BY licensing to satisfy Plan S.
Is an instance
An author deposits the accepted manuscript with zero embargo in a Plan S-compliant repository.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
Publishing in a subscription journal with a 12-month embargo against Plan S funding terms.
Not an instance
Choosing a CC BY-NC licence when CC BY is required by the funder.

Editorial commentary

Plan S was developed under the leadership of Robert-Jan Smits and Marc Schiltz with the European Research Council and major European funders. Its ten principles require: immediate access" class="text-primary underline-offset-2 hover:underline" data-autolinked="true" title="Open access — CASRAI Dictionary">open access with CC BY (or equivalent) licensing; copyright retention by authors; transparent costs for any APCs paid; and compliance through one of three routes (publication in fully OA venues, deposit in OA repositories, or publication in a transformative arrangement). The policy was revised in 2019 following community consultation. It has shaped funder OA policies globally, including in the UK (UKRI), France (ANR), the Netherlands (NWO) and at the Wellcome Trust and Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

References

coalition-s.org. Smits RJ, Pells R 'Plan S for Shock' (Ubiquity Press 2022). Wellcome Trust open-access policy.

Also known as

Plan S policy

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Plan S"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/plan-s" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "Plan S",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/plan-s",
  "description": "An open-access publishing policy launched in September 2018 by cOAlition S requiring that, from January 2021, scholarly publications resulting from research funded by member organisations be made openly available immediately upon publication under an open licence.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/knowledge-equity-diversity-global-south-inclusion/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/plan-s",
  "sameAs": [
    "Plan S policy"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

Referenced across the research world

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