PLOS
PLOS (for Public Library of Science; PLoS until 2012 [1]) is a nonprofit publisher of open-access journals in science, technology, and medicine and other scientific literature, under an open-content license. It was founded in 2000 and launched its first journal, PLOS Biology, in October 2003.
Founded
2000
2003 (public operations)
United States
Alison Mudditt (CEO)
As of 2022, PLOS publishes 12 academic journals,[2] including 7 journals indexed within the Science Citation Index Expanded, and consequently 7 journals ranked with an impact factor.
PLOS journals are included in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). PLOS is also a member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), a participating publisher and supporter of the Initiative for Open Citations, and a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Financial model[edit]
To fund the journals, PLOS charges an article processing charge (APC) to be paid by the author or the author's employer or funder. In the United States, institutions such as the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have pledged that recipients of their grants will be allocated funds to cover such author charges. The Global Participation Initiative (GPI) was instituted in 2012, by which authors in "group-one countries" are not charged a fee and those in "group-two countries" are given a fee reduction. (In all cases, decisions to publish are based solely on editorial criteria.)
PLOS was launched with grants totaling US$13 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Sandler Family Supporting Foundation.[18] PLOS confirmed in July 2011 that it no longer relies on subsidies from foundations and is covering all of its operational costs.[19][20] Since then, the PLOS balance sheet has improved from $20,511,000 net assets in 2012–2013 to $36,591,000 in 2014–2015.[21][22]
Other partners[edit]
In April 2017, PLOS was one of the founding partners in the Initiative for Open Citations.[23]
Headquarters[edit]
PLOS has its main headquarters in Suite 225 in the Koshland East Building in Levi's Plaza in San Francisco.[24] Previously, the company had been located at 185 Berry Street.[25] In June 2010, PLOS announced that it was moving to a new location in order to accommodate its rapid growth. The move to the Koshland East Building went into effect on 21 June 2010.[26]