Explainer · Plain-language
What is Plan S?
Plan S is an initiative by cOAlition S — a coalition of major research funders led by Science Europe — requiring that publications resulting from funded research be made immediately open access under a CC BY licence. Launched September 2018; effective 2021.
The step most authors miss
Doing CRediT right? Don’t stop at the statement.
A CRediT statement credits you inside one paper. The recognition CRediT was built for happens when those roles are tied to you, persistently. Sign in with your ORCID — free — and claim your CRediT contributions on casrai.org, the home of the standard. They become a verified, portable part of your identity, not a line that disappears into one PDF.
Free: claim your contributions, then export a journal-ready CRediT statement, schema.org structured data, JATS XML, CSV or BibTeX — and preview your public profile. A membership publishes that profile publicly and verifies the journals you serve.
The 10 Plan S principles
Centred on: (1) immediate open access at time of publication, (2) CC BY licensing, (3) author retention of copyright, (4) publication fees paid by funder/institution (not individual researchers), (5) ban on hybrid OA (transformative agreements only as transition), (6) APC caps, (7) journal-quality criteria over JIF, (8) compliance audited.
How researchers comply
Three compliant routes: (a) publish in a fully OA journal; (b) publish in a journal under a transformative agreement covered by the funder; (c) publish in any journal but deposit the accepted manuscript in a recognised repository with CC BY licensing, no embargo.
cOAlition S funders
Includes UKRI, ERC, Wellcome, Gates Foundation, Templeton, FCT (Portugal), FWF (Austria), Health Research Board (Ireland), and others. cOAlition S signatory list grows over time.
Impact on journals
Major STM journals have responded with transformative agreements (Read & Publish deals), pure OA mirrors (Nature Communications, Cell Reports), or remained outside Plan S compliance — making them unusable for cOAlition S-funded authors.
Key facts
At a glance
- Launched: September 2018
- Effective: January 2021 (with phased implementation)
- Coalition: cOAlition S — ~30 funders
- Compliance: Three routes (OA journal / transformative agreement / Green OA deposit)
- Licence: CC BY required
- Hybrid OA: Not permitted (transformative deals only as transition)
Common misconceptions
What people often get wrong
Often heard: Plan S is an EU mandate.
Actually: It's a funder coalition initiative, not a regulation. cOAlition S includes EU funders + non-EU (Wellcome, Gates, Templeton, etc.).
Often heard: Plan S requires authors to pay APCs.
Actually: Plan S explicitly requires funders / institutions to cover publication fees — not individual researchers.
Often heard: Hybrid OA satisfies Plan S.
Actually: No — hybrid OA in subscription journals is not Plan S compliant. Transformative agreements were a temporary transition route.
Going deeper
