Open Access Community Investment Program Investment Criteria

Criteria for Open Access1 Investments

Pilot participants will be asked to summarize their request for investment in an “elevator pitch,” and provide responses to or describe how they satisfy the following criteria:

“Elevator Pitch”: ​ ● Please provide no more than 300 words summarizing how much money you are seeking, for what period of time, the levels/tiers of potential investment, and why you are recommending that stakeholders invest in your journal, resource, or project.

Combinatorial Theory is a new mathematics journal, expecting its first issue in early 2021. It ​ publishes papers in Combinatorics, an active area of mathematical research with applications throughout the mathematical, computational and natural sciences. Combinatorial Theory is ​ ​ owned by mathematicians who believe in the importance of unfettered access to research as a means of engaging the global combinatorial community. As such, it is an publication, with no fees for authors or readers.

The journal was founded in September 2020, when most of the editorial board for one of the oldest and most prestigious journals in Combinatorics, the commercially-owned Journal of ​ Combinatorial Theory, Ser. A, announced they would resign in December 2020. The new ​ journal Combinatorial Theory will deepen and broaden the impact of its predecessor, as well as ​ ​ embark on an inclusive vision that is international in scope, with a diverse editorial team seeking top research papers from combinatorial mathematicians worldwide. The journal is committed to fairness and mitigation of implicit biases in its selection processes, including double-blind refereeing. This makes it a pioneer among mathematics research journals.

The journal's costs are modest: roughly $3,000 per year for quality editorial software (EditFlow), plus fair compensation for a team of four managing editors who distribute papers to handling editors and oversee accepted papers in the production stage. We anticipate a steep learning curve in the early years for these managing editors.

Combinatorial Theory seeks funding of $25,000 per year for the next 5 years, suggesting ​ various tiers of institutional commitments, from $500-$2,000 per year. To be clear, these investments carry no promise of input in publication decisions-- the journal plans editorial independence, basing publishing decisions for papers solely on the quality, novelty, depth and

1 Open Access (OA) to scholarship means making peer-reviewed literature available online ​ ​ without any financial, legal, or technical barriers other than gaining access to the Internet, itself. Open Access Community Investment Program Investment Criteria timeliness of the research. We will nevertheless monitor the performance of the journal, responding to comments and feedback from our sponsors, authors and the community.

Resource Overview

1. Description and mission of resource a. Mission information should also be provided society/publisher level b. Indicate whether mission supports scholarly researchers and/or the public interest On Sept. 14, 2020, our group that includes almost all members of the editorial board of the current journal Journal of Combinatorial Theory Series A (hereafter, JCTA) announced ​ ​ to the publisher their intention to resign on Dec. 31, 2020.

We have initiated a new mathematician-owned Diamond Open Access journal, titled Combinatorial Theory. The old journal JCTA is universally recognized as the top journal within ​ its area of mathematics, and is also the oldest, founded in 1966. This presents two difficulties for mathematicians in our area: (1) Some have no access to JCTA’s articles, and (2) many still feel the need to publish in this top journal as a career credential. Our mission is to have our new OA journal replace the old one as the leader in the subject, ameliorating both problems.

It is expected that Elsevier will continue publishing the old journal JCTA, replacing the lost members of the editorial board. The prestige of the new journal will come from the recognition of the community that almost the entire editorial board of the old journal switched over to the new one. Also, the Fields medalist Tim Gowers, who started project (thecostofknowledge.com), has agreed to join the board of the new journal. There is a precedent that this strategy can be successful from the recent flip of the Springer-owned Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics to a new Diamond OA journal called Algebraic ​ ​ Combinatorics. ​

2. Publishing history JCTA has published continuously since 1966. Our new journal, Combinatorial Theory, will begin ​ ​ publication in early 2021. Although Combinatorial Theory is now accepting and processing ​ ​ submissions, it will take a few months before its first issue is published by the University of California’s eScholarship Publishing program

3. Peer review process The journal is committed to fairness and mitigation of implicit biases in its selection processes, including double-blind refereeing. This makes it a pioneer among mathematics research journals, which have traditionally done single-blind refereeing. Open Access Community Investment Program Investment Criteria

4. Snapshot of resource and society/publisher finances and governance a. Information provided both at journal and society/publisher level b. Indicate any non-profit status

We are committed to a Diamond Open Access model, that is, no fees charged to readers, nor to authors. It is our hope to eventually gain funding from private donors and consortia of mathematics departments and library systems.

5. Current business model of resource a. If subscription, indicate distribution/sales volume

The move away from Elsevier entails a serious loss of the funding that they provided. Elsevier compensated each of the three JCTA Editors-in-Chief $18,000 per year for their very heavy workload. JCTA’s many other editorial board members were unpaid, and provided varying amounts of advice to the Editors-in-Chief. Elsevier also managed the editorial platform for submissions, provided copy-editing, and secretarial support.

The new journal envisages distributing the workload more evenly among a higher number of “Handling editors” for papers. However, the current plan is to have four people whom one might call “Managing editors”. Two managing editors would distribute papers as they come in, choosing to which handling editor they are sent. Two other managing editors would deal with papers after they are accepted, doing copy-editing as well as fixing authors’ article source code, so as to conform to the journal’s style file.

We expect a steep learning curve, and that the four managing editors will require serious time and effort in the early years of the journal, first developing the journal style file, and getting used to the editorial platform.

In those first years we would like each managing editor to be compensated at a rate of roughly $7 per page. This is less than the 7 euro per page rate charged by Centre Mersenne at Univ. of Grenoble to the recently started OA journal Algebraic Combinatorics, mentioned in Item 1. ​ ​

JCTA currently publishes 8 volumes per year, of varying page lengths, and the total number of pages has grown in recent years: 2062, 1824, 2524, 3394, 3188 pages in years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. We expect at least 2,500 pages per year for the new journal, which will likely increase over time. We therefore anticipate costs of $7 x 2,500 = $17,500 each year to compensate the four managing editors.

Open Access Community Investment Program Investment Criteria

Additionally, the board has opted to use a quality editorial management platform called EditFlow (msp.org/software/editflow). This system was designed by mathematicians, and has seen widespread use in mathematical journals. Based upon our projected volume of submissions, EditFlow has quoted us a figure of $2750 per year for their product.

The only financial commitment so far is from the organization MathOA (http://www.mathoa.org/), ​ ​ which has budgeted 5000 euros (=$5800) per year in the first three years of the journal.

6. Summary of pilot funding request a. Include total dollar value sought per year, term for which sought, and minimum investment accepted The expenses detailed in item 5 bring our total cost estimate per year to $17,500+$2,750 = $20,250. Subtracting the yearly commitment from MathOA mentioned in Item 5 of 5000 euros (=$5800) yields $20,250 - $5800 = $14450 per year as our funding request for the initial years of the journal’s operation.

At a minimum, we would require a $500 per year commitment from any group to have them mentioned as a supporter on the journal’s website.

7. Reasons for seeking funding for transition to OA or continued support for OA publication

We believe this has been explained in Item 5 above.

I.mpact ​ ​ 8. Disciplinary impact a. Point if possible to an annual report with stats showing impact; data from other institutions who have adopted it

Having just initiated the journal, we don't have any statistics on this as yet.

9. Diversity, equity, and inclusion impact a. Inclusion of diverse voices; promotion of publishing opportunities for underrepresented scholars, societies, or groups

While we cannot point to any such impact yet, our expansion of the new journal’s board with more Handling Editors and Managing Editors has allowed us to build a much more diverse Open Access Community Investment Program Investment Criteria board. The board also now contains many younger, up-and-coming leaders in the field, who have been enthusiastic in adopting our double-blind refereeing policy, as a means to mitigate implicit biases.

10. Indicators of faculty impact or student success a. Include usage statistics

Not available yet.

11. Indication of improved access to unique content or services not otherwise available

By creating a Diamond Open Access journal as an alternative to Elsevier’s leading subscription journal in this field, we will vastly improve access to the research and findings in combinatorial mathematics. For example, access to Elsevier journals has been cut off for many major library systems due to failed negotiations, such as those in Germany (Projekt DEAL), and the library systems for the Univ. of California system, the SUNY system, MIT, and Univ. of North Carolina- Chapel Hill.

Organization & Governance

12. Whether investment carries governance input a. Statement on editorial independence or whether investors have a say in governance or article selection/journal direction

The journal plans editorial independence, basing publishing decisions for papers solely on the quality, novelty, depth and timeliness of the research. We will nevertheless monitor the performance of the journal, responding to comments and feedback from our sponsors, authors and the community.

13. Commitment to advancing social justice and diversity a. Include if applicable: Resource respects cultural heritage through advocacy of data sovereignty or use of TK Labels; resource has commitment to diversity in mission statement; commitment to diversity in the board or development of journal, etc.

As mentioned in Item 9, we have created a more diverse board than that of the old journal, and are committed to maintaining this. Open Access Community Investment Program Investment Criteria

14. Author rights retention & licensing

Authors will retain copyright and the articles will be published under a CC-BY license.

15. Compliance with relevant technical standards a. Include if relevant: LOCKSS preservation or some other form of industry-standard preservation, FAIR data, meets interoperability standards (discovery layer, OAI-PMH), meets user experience standards (ADA accessibility), reference to metadata and discovery standards

As with all eScholarship journals, the content of this publication will be preserved in Merritt, the California Digital Library’s preservation repository. eScholarship will also provide DOIs for all papers published in the journal, in addition to the unique permalink eScholarship generates for all content. All content and associated metadata (including any assigned reuse license) in eScholarship is accessible via our public API, RSS and OAI-PMH interfaces, and is subject to CDL’s Accessibility Guidelines which are linked to from the bottom of every page. Finally, usage metrics are openly available for eScholarship items.

16. Commitment to innovation and research & development

In addition to ensuring broad access to leading research in this field, we seek to change the culture of how editorial contributions to open access journals are valued in math departments and universities. For example, we hope to produce documents and write articles in the Notices ​ of the American Mathematical Society, explaining the need for time release or other recognition ​ or compensation for faculty who are managing editors of open access journals. Diamond OA journals are not “free” – and a good part of their cost rests in the labor of those who run them. We must be clear about the extent of that labor and what is necessary to ensure long-term sustainability of these kinds of efforts.

17. Demonstration of operational and financial stability, or a plan for such

Combinatorial Theory is considering forming a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, in conjunction ​ with other open access combinatorics journals, such as Algebraic Combinatorics and Electronic ​ ​ ​ Journal of Combinatorics. This structure might make us more attractive for support by math ​ departments with large combinatorics groups, and library consortia.