In January 2002, IOP Publishing (IOP) opened up access to many current articles for the first thirty days after publication under the heading of ‘This month’s articles’. This was introduced to coincide with the launch of our Electronic Journals platform (the predecessor of IOPscience) to help raise the visibility of new research and attract readers to try some of the then new online features.
We will end this policy on 4 November 2013. There has been a high level of abuse of the policy, with regular and systematic downloading of new articles by non-subscribers. By ending the policy we will ensure that the costs of our publications are shared fairly across all users.
We will continue to provide access free at the point of use through the gold open access option on the majority of our journals, green open access after an embargo period on all journals, the free access we provide in the developing world, free access to important and newsworthy new articles and participation in the pilot project providing immediate free access in UK public libraries, among others.
We recognize that some users may be disappointed by this move but we are confident that the range of options we already have in place enables the vast majority of readers to get easy access to the latest research published by IOP and our many partners. IOP is committed to providing long-term, sustainable access to quality scientific research for everyone.