PLOS announces new publishing agreement with Colombian consortium

SAN FRANCISCO —The Public Library of Science (PLOS) is pleased to announce a consortium agreement with Consorcio Colombia / Consortia facilitated by Accucoms, that allows joining member institutions to participate in PLOS’ three innovative publishing models across all 14 PLOS titles. The agreement provides researchers from affiliated institutions unlimited publishing privileges in PLOS journals without incurring fees. Eight Colombian institutions have joined the agreement in 2024 [1], and more institutions are expected to join in the following years.

“Consorcio Colombia is a collaborative work initiative with great recognition in Latin America and constantly seeks options to facilitate access to information and open access in the country. That is why it decided to sign an agreement with PLOS to facilitate the publication of the research community in one of the most important open access publishers in the world. With this, we hope to increase the visibility and academic impact of our research while promoting sustainable models of scientific communication,” said César Rendón, CEO of Consortia.

Mónica Cristancho, Library Director at Universidad El Bosque, one of the participating institutions in 2024, said, “Collaborating with PLOS, through the open access agreement with Consorcio Colombia, has been crucial in promoting the publications of researchers from Universidad El Bosque. Thanks to this partnership, our researchers have the opportunity to share their discoveries widely and accessibly, adhering to the fundamental principle of open access to scientific information. This not only democratizes knowledge, allowing anyone to freely access research findings, but also fosters global collaboration. Thus, this agreement is not only beneficial for our institution and our researchers, but also contributes to the advancement of science and the welfare of society at large.”

PLOS institutional business models such as Community Action Publishing (CAP) [2], Flat Fees [3], and Global Equity [4] ensure more equitable and regionally appropriate ways to support Open Access publishing.

“Our agreement with Consorcio Colombia will help to expand PLOS’ footprint in South America and provide equitable access to Open Science opportunities for researchers in the region,” said Roheena Anand, Executive Director of Global Publishing Development & Sales at PLOS. “Consorcio Colombia shares our intention of removing barriers for authors to publish Open Access and building business models which move journals toward a more equitable and fee-free form of publishing.”

“I am happy to have collaborated on the negotiation of a very first PLOS consortium agreement in Latin America. This agreement allows Colombian institutions to sign up for unlimited publishing in all PLOS journals without APC fees for their researchers, at a very accessible cost for the institutions. It is great to see that 8 institutions have already signed up in 2024, and I’m confident many more Colombian institutions will understand the benefits of this agreement and will join in the coming few years,” said Anouk Snijders, Commercial Manager Latin America, Accucoms.

The members of Consorcio Colombia join a growing list of institutions in Latin America, including UNAM, CINVESTAV, and INCMNSZ in Mexico and Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina in Peru among others, to support their researchers through unlimited publishing deals with PLOS.

The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP)  honored PLOS as the 2021 co-winner for Innovation in Publishing for its Community Action Publishing model.

About the Public Library of Science

PLOS is a nonprofit, open access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. Since our founding in 2001, PLOS journals have helped break boundaries in research communication to provide more opportunities, choice, and context for researchers and readers. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org.

About Consorcio Colombia / Consortia

The Colombia Consortium is an alliance between Higher Education Institutions and research centers in the country that seeks to strengthen institutional capacities through subscription and access to digital resources for training and research processes, in addition to the development of projects of common interest.

The Colombia Consortium has a presence in the 6 regions of the country and currently has 63 participating institutions, which are diverse in their nature (public or private), in their size and research capacity. However, they all share the same need and the same interest in managing the best conditions of access to relevant, updated and quality scientific information to successfully advance the mission processes of higher education institutions and research centers. For more information visit https://www.consorciocolombia.co.  

About Accucoms

We are the leading provider of sales and marketing services to academic and professional publishers worldwide. We have extensive expertise in global representation for clients ranging from large publishing houses to specialist society publishers. We work on behalf of publishers to help boost their sales, expand their readership, and increase customer retention and engagement in the markets that are important to them. www.accucoms.com.

[1] Universidad El Bosque, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Universidad del Tolima, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Universidad de la Amazonía, Universidad de Medellín, Universidad del Magdalena, Universidad Colegio Mayor de Antioquia.

[2] Participating journals include PLOS Biology, PLOS Medicine and PLOS Sustainability and Transformation.

[3] Participating journals include PLOS Digital Health, PLOS ONE, PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Pathogens, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, PLOS Genetics, and PLOS Complex Systems.

[4] Participating journals include PLOS Climate, PLOS Water, PLOS Global Public Health, and PLOS Mental Health.