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

Abstract

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