After DOAJ implemented new criteria for inclusion of open access journals and invited all journals listed in the directory to reapply, a large number of journals was removed from the database, most for failing to submit an updated application within the deadline. Two DOAJ volunteers for Italy investigated if their contribution, and the contribution by DOAJ volunteers all over the world, was effective in trying to improve the quality of journals indexed in the directory. They are now publishing the results of this investigation.

Hilda Bastian, a member of the PLOS One Human Research Ethics Advisory Group, makes a month-by-month roundup of some of the major open access actions in 2016. A study in the biomedical literature database PubMed reveals a general trend: accessibility of publications seems to increase in waves, with those waves arriving in different intervals, geographically and by academic discipline: 2020 looks like the year to watch now.

The Max Planck Digital Library and Taylor & Francis Group have signed an agreement which enables researchers based in Max Planck institutes to publish open access in 2,390 journals, under a centrally funded arrangement. This applies to peer-reviewed papers in full and hybrid Taylor & Francis Group journals, including Routledge and Cogent OA titles.

Every six months, the Council of the European Union rotates its presidency among the European Union member states. From January to June 2016, the Netherlands presided over the Council. In this post, OASPA reviews the impact of the steps taken by the Dutch presidency to open up access to research, and the continued work by the Council of the European Union achieved so far to meet its goals towards openness.

Jeffrey Beall, scholarly communications librarian at the University of Colorado, decided to shut down his website on the beginning of January 2017. His website was known to host several controversial lists of “predatory” journals and publishers. Beall did not inform the community nor did he provide explanations for this decision.

Over a million records of open access publications from Latin America are now discoverable through the OpenAIRE platform. In December 2016, OpenAIRE began harvesting records from LA Referencia, the large regional repository network that aggregates metadata of open access publications. LA Referencia contains over 1.2 million records of open access content from nine countries in Latin America. The records provide access to peer-reviewed journal articles, theses and dissertations across all research disciplines. This effort will significantly raise the visibility of Latin American publications outside the region.

Publications such as Nature and Science have policies that clash with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation open-access mandate. The discussions could result in influential journals making special arrangements with the Gates Foundation to permit OA publishing. If that happens, it would be the first time that journals such as Nature and Science have allowed a group of scientists an open-access publishing route based on their funding source.

In The Dramatic Growth of Open Access, Heather Morrison, Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Information Studies, is drawing up an annual review of key data illustrating the growth of open access, with additional comments and analysis for each platform. She highlights the Bielefeld Academic Search Engine, which surpassed two major milestones in 2016: over 100 million documents (about 60% open access) and 5,000 content providers.

On October 7^th, 2016, the French Law for a Digital Republic (LOI n° 2016-1321 du 7 octobre 2016 pour une République numérique) came into force, following a one-year open review process during which the draft law could be improved by citizens. This law introduces new provisions to regulate the digital economy, online cooperative economy, data protection and access to the internet. Two articles are of specific concern for scholarly communication, as they relate directly to open access/open data and text & data-mining (TDM).

In a detailed study, redacted by Madhan Muthu and coworkers on the effect of article processing charges (APC) on open access publishing in India, assessing the financial burden of publication fees on science dissemination in India, the proposal aroused for the creation of a decentralized national platform of Open Access (OA) journals, such as SciELO, to reduce costs, increase efficiency and facilitate sharing of metadata among repositories.