Step forward in the digitalization of science in Poland

Jan. 17, 2011 - PRLog -- In 2009, Committees and Departments of the Polish Academy of Science, a leading scholar and research institution in Poland, published 254 titles in about 100.000 copies. Now the organization has decided to further expand availability of research by publishing electronically 21 of its journals in the Open Access model. Versita has been chosen the technology and publishing services provider for the project.

The 21 journals of the Polish Academy of Sciences make for the biggest portfolio of journals so far, contracted by Versita at one time. Currently, the company, which is a leading science publisher in Central and Eastern Europe, offers its services to nearly 200 journals in the region and globally, and expects to increase the number of customer journals to 500 in the near future. The partnership with the Polish Academy of Sciences is a significant step in making this vision possible.

The cooperation of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Versita includes publishing of journals across various scientific disciplines, ranging from biology and veterinary sciences, through to psychology, transportation and engineering. While Versita will offer its electronic publishing, distribution and marketing services to contracted journals, the journal editors will be able to focus on the acquisition and editing of manuscripts.

Commenting on the partnership, Dawid Cecula, Head of Versita Open says “The journals’ content will be available in the Open Access model, which is a new development in scholarly publishing, giving researchers equal access to the latest research results. As a company dedicated to global dissemination of scientific discovery, we are delighted to be a part of this ambitious venture”.


About the Polish Academy of Sciences
The Polish Academy of Sciences (www.english.pan.pl) is a state scientific institution founded in 1952. It functions as a learned society acting through an elected corporation of leading scholars and research institutions. The activity of the Academy is financed mainly from the State budget via the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

About Open Access
Open Access (OA) is an emerging model for academic publishing where readers receive free access to scientific journals and books. In typical OA models, the publishing costs are paid by authors. The first OA advocates were librarians, and recently several publishers have introduced their OA offerings.

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Versita (www.versita.com) publishes over 200 own and third-party scholarly journals across many disciplines, in the subscription model and in the open access model. Versita is the exclusive journal publishing partner of Springer (www.springer.com) in Central Europe. Open access journals are available at the newly launched Versita Open platform (www.versitaopen.com). The company was established in 2001 by Jacek Ciesielski.