Mechanics & Industry, the official journal of the AFM, joins the open access movement

Details

Published on 16 October 2020

Paris, France, 14 October 2020:
EDP Sciences is pleased to announce that Mechanics & Industry, the official journal of the Association Française de Mécanique (AFM), will publish all articles open access from January 2021. M&I has been co-published in English with EDP Sciences since 2004 and is widely recognised and appreciated in its field.

The joint decision to transition the journal to open access underlines the AFM’s policy of supporting open science. It is particularly keen to facilitate exchanges between researchers and industry and highlight collaborative projects. EDP Sciences has been committed to open access from the beginning of the movement and, like the AFM, supports a continuous move towards open science. It is committed to helping journals transition to open access if they so wish.

“The growing demand for open access from both the scholarly community and research funding bodies makes this the right time to fully embrace open access. We are extremely pleased to take this next step with EDP Sciences and excited about the opportunities to reinforce the journal’s position as a leading voice within the mechanical sciences community” explains Professor Eric Arquis, President of the AFM.

Open access provides an exciting opportunity for Mechanics & Industry to grow and places it at the forefront of developments in the sector, closely following the recommendations of the French national plan for open science and, of course, Plan S supported by a range of European institutions. The journal will be disseminated much more widely, both nationally and internationally, and will gain more exposure within the industry.

The journal already benefits from the reach of open access; submissions via the existing ‘open access option’ have been popular and 80 open access articles have been published since 2017 (of which 39 were under the ‘French National Open Access Agreement’). Several open access special issues have also been published and proved to be very popular. It is worth noting, article processing charges (APCs) will be waived for young researchers contributing to future special issues.

Authors will also benefit from the transition to full open access. The journal will publish articles under a CC-BY license, enabling authors to retain copyright and be fully compliant with any open access requirements of funding organisations. Corresponding authors from institutions which are part of the French National Open Access Agreement will be able to publish in Mechanics & Industry with no APCs as will those affiliated with an institution in Group A of the Research4Life programme. Similar agreements are already in place with German academic institutions and eligible Chinese Academy of Sciences institutes. The AFM and EDP Sciences will continue their efforts to secure funding for APCs via such agreements.

“It’s a privilege to work with the AFM to help it prepare for its open access future and to help M&I develop by providing academics, researchers and industry actors with a global platform for sharing their work beyond the reach of the traditional research community,” explains Ariana Fuga, Senior Editor Journals & Books, EDP Sciences. “At the same time, we are supporting the open scholarship agenda. This is an important step in making mechanical sciences research more accessible, and one we are pleased to support unreservedly.”

For more information:
Ariana Fuga
Senior Editor Journals & Books
EDP Sciences
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.edpsciences.org