Openness ↔ quality
SciPost & its PubFracs business model
Bengaluru, 3 February 2026 [online]
Jean-Sébastien Caux
Institute of Physics
University of Amsterdam
Institute of Physics
University of Amsterdam
SciPost
What is it? |
A complete publishing portal
|
Who runs it? |
Professional scientists
(is and will remain grassroots)
|
Summary? |
|
Journals
- SciPost Physics
- SciPost Physics Core
- SP Lecture Notes
- SP Proceedings
- SP Codebases
- SP Comm. Rep.
- ...
~3700 publications
(up to now)
The 3 Pillars
Our business model
PubFracs
Data accessibility
Organizations list page
Avantages of PubFracs
- Equity, in depth
- Ultra-simple accounting
- Total transparency
- Authors not held hostage
- Researchers don't dilapidate their budgets on APCs
- No more wasted time/money in "negotiations"
Disadvantages
- Based on past realizations 🠊 suffocated growth
- Non-obligatory support 🠊 low support (10% !!)
- Unfamiliar; ≠ subscriptions, APC 🔫
- Invisible: an APC which does not exist is less visible than one which you are billed for
- Risks: all carried by SciPost
The reality on the ground
- No security, bankruptcy always within sight
- We have however survived for 10 years...
- ... thanks to a minority of generous organizations
- ... and perhaps a lot of stubbornness on our side.
- Financing: too much work, too unpredictable
- Insufficient/incorrectly distributed structural help/investment from topmost levels
Inclusion in SCOSS
Current situation
The SciPost Team
| J-S Caux | Founder Chairman Developer |
| Joost van Mameren | Secretary |
| Jasper van Wezel | Treasurer |
| Sergio E. Tapias Arze | Executive Director |
| Francesca Ferrari | Editorial Admin |
| George Katsikas | Developer |
| Kyros Megalos Adam | Production |