The four editors-in-chief of the “Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics” have announced that they will not renew their contract with their publisher, Springer, due to a disagreement on the subscription fees.
According to a news release, posted on Mathematics in Open Access, nearly all of the board members of the journal will resign.
The contract of editors Akihiro Munemasa, Christos Athanasiadis, Hugh Thomas and Hendrik van Maldeghem will expire on December 2017. After that date, they plan to launch a new journal, named “Algebraic Combinatorics”, which will abide to the principles of the Fair Open Access Alliance.
In an interview with Inside Higher Ed, Hugh Thomas, said that they approached Springer and ask for the Journal to be free online, but the publishers replied that they did not consider that an option.
“It has been becoming more and more clear that commercial journal publishers are charging high subscription fees and high Article Processing Charges (APCs), profiting from the volunteer labour of the academic community, and adding little value,” stated Thomas.
Victor Reiner, interim editor in chief of the “Algebraic Combinatorics”, said that they trust that the new journal will soon gain prestige.
Springer informed that it will keep running the “Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics” and will appoint a new board.
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