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Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 20:55:28 -0400

De Gruyter Open converts eight subscription journals to open access megajournals

Eight journals published and distributed previously by Versita and
Springer, available now open access on De Gruyter Online

Starting with volume 2015, De Gruyter Open will publish a group of
eight Central European Journals now distributed in subscription model
by Springer and turn them to Open Access. This is a move unprecedented
for a group of STM journals, being supplemented by three new launches
in the humanities.

"The key motivation for this change was to build strong megajournals
in all STM fields" says Dr. Sven Fund, CEO of De Gruyter. "Our major
advantage is that we build them on the basis of a group of journals
that have been published for over a decade. They have rigorous peer
review, high rejection rates and have earned good impact factors".
Sven Fund adds: "The overwhelming support from the editorial boards,
the increasing demand to publish research in Open Access and above
all, the mandates of the funding institutions all make a strong case
in favor of Open Access".

The publication of the Central European Journals began twelve years
ago by the Polish company Versita, which was acquired and subsequently
renamed by De Gruyter. Each of the journals covers one broad
discipline. The journals have Nobel Prize laureates among their
editorial board members and authors, such as Frank Wilczek, Elias J.
Corey, Martin Karplus, Roald Hoffman, and Timothy Hunt.

The editorial boards of the journals support the conversion of their
publication to Open Access. Samuel Candler Dobbs, Professor of Physics
at Emory University, and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of
Open Physics says: "This correlates with the direction high quality
research publications are moving towards".

In a bid to serve the best interests of authors, readers and editors,
and to reflect the all-encompassing scopes of the converted journals,
De Gruyter Open has renamed all the former entries with the following
titles:

Open Mathematics (formerly Central European Journal of Mathematics)
Open Physics (formerly Central European Journal of Physics)
Open Chemistry (formerly Central European Journal of Chemistry)
Open Life Sciences (formerly Central European Journal of Biology)
Open Medicine (formerly Central European Journal of Medicine)
Open Geosciences (formerly Central European Journal of Geosciences)
Open Engineering (formerly Central European Journal of Engineering)
Open Computer Science (formerly Central European Journal of Computer Science)

In volume 2013, these journals published over one thousand articles.
Besides the journals that are being converted from subscription to
Open Access, De Gruyter Open is launching new megajournals in the
humanities:

Open Linguistics
Open Theology
Open Archaeology

"De Gruyter Open is well positioned to make such an unprecedented
move" says Jacek Ciesielski, CEO of De Gruyter Open. "The transition
is not an experiment. Quite the opposite, it is a well prepared
development for the journals, which belong to De Gruyter Open".

Contact: Maria Hrynkiewicz
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48-660-476-421
De Gruyter Open
@DeGruyterOpen