Alicia Wise of Information Power was invited to deliver a plenary presentation at the Charleston Conference. In just ten minutes, she was to discuss Our Open Future: how we will achieve Open Access, Open Infrastructure, and Open Research. This article develops the theme of how new – sometimes unexpected – collaborations will be available and essential to moving into the new open world.

ALPSP believes in the value of community-led publishing as a vital part of a thriving research ecosystem, and that this is recognized in the transition to open access. ALPSP members hope that cOalition S will continue to listen to feedback from the community in formulating its final guidelines. They are encouraging their members to respond to the consultation, using the survey.

The closing dates for comment is 6 January 2020.

This article reports on selected findings from the pilot African Open Science Platform landscape study, conducted by the Academy of Science of South Africa ASSAF, on request of the South African Department of Science and Technology, and funded by the National Research Foundation. Direction was provided by CODATA (International Science Council).

Agreements with open access (OA) elements (e.g. agreements with APC discounts, offsetting agreements, read and publish agreements) have been increasing in number in the last few years. Consortia and academic institutions need to monitor the number of OA publications, the costs and the value of these agreements. Publishers are therefore required to account for the articles published OA to consortia, academic institutions and research funders. One way publishers can do so is by providing regular reports with article-level metadata. This article uses the Knowledge Exchange (KE) and the Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges (ESAC) initiative recommendations as a check-list to assess what article-level metadata consortia request from publishers and what metadata publishers deliver to consortia.

Open Access guidelines propose recommendations to improve Open Access to publications in the arts and humanities. The core aim is to bring closer the harmonized but transforming European Open Access policy landscape to the communities around DARIAH and recommend very practical steps to achieve compliance with it.

In September 2019, a project that included funders backing Plan S, the European-led effort to speed the transition to open access, released a set of contract templates and tips meant to help small, independent publishers reach deals with libraries that would eventually eliminate subscriptions while protecting revenue. The project also helped arrange pilots, which may soon be inked, that use the guidance; they will allow researchers served by library consortia to publish an unlimited number of open-access articles in return for a set fee paid to societies.

Even while founding megajournals have lost momentum, others that are more selective or specialized are thriving. Three discipline-focused megajournals have grown rapidly in recent years.

Dominique Babini shares her thoughts on Plan S and its significant differences with the Open Access ecosystem, free of article processing charges (APC), that the Latin American region preserves.

Since 2016, UNESCO annually marks 28 September as the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI). UNESCO will continue to organize a series of ‘Open Talks’ at the global level in Lima, Peru on 27 September 2019, and at the regional level in Toluca, Mexico on 19 and 20 September 2019. The events aim to create worldwide discussion on how to foster open societies, open access to information and sustainable development. Within this context, the event, to be held at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEMex) in Toluca, will bring together the founders of AmeliCA and recent members, and create an opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved one year after its launch, build a roadmap of activities and projects for 2020 including the strategy by AmeliCA in favor of the Sustainable Development Goals.

In July 2019, Christopher Kenneally spoke with Rob Johnson of Research Consulting during the webinar Plan S Revisions Decoded. They covered all aspects about Plan S: what has changed, what has stayed the same, and what might happen next.