Science Advances is approaching its 10-year anniversary with lots to celebrate. In 2023, the journal received more than 21,000 submissions and published almost 2100 papers. The editorial board, which started with just six distinguished academics, has grown to 45 deputy editors and almost 350 associate editors. After 10 years of outstanding leadership, Ali Shilatifard has stepped down as founding editor. Given the growth of the journal, we are announcing a new model for managing the journal to enable its growth and continued success in the future.
Science Advances is different from other journals in the Science family in two important ways. The first is that expenses are paid through article processing charges (APCs) rather than subscriptions, so papers are free to read and they are published under a Creative Commons license (author’s choice of either CC BY or CC BY-NC). The second is that instead of using professional editors who manage research submissions as their full-time job, the editorial board of Science Advances is composed of practicing, academic scientists who are leaders in their fields around the world. Science and our publisher, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), are committed to these aspects of Science Advances. Given all of the changes occurring in scientific publishing, we believe it is important for our authors to have an option to have the version of record of their published research freely available and to have the opportunity to have their papers handled by their peers if that is what they prefer.
Because of the growth of the journal, Managing Editor Laura Remis and I have decided to appoint section editors to lead the five topical areas of the journal, rather than using a single editor model. The new section editors are Jennifer Earl (Social and Interdisciplinary Science), Tali Sharot (Neuroscience), Douglas Erwin (Earth, Environmental, Ecological, and Space Sciences), Ilya Kuprov (Physical and Materials Sciences), and Craig Cameron (Biomedical and Life Sciences). We are grateful to these five individuals for accepting our request to serve as lead for their designated topical area of the editorial board; they all have been making important contributions as deputy editors for some time. The Editorial Working Groups page provides the subdivisions under the new model.
These five leaders—plus Philip Yeagle, research integrity officer for Science Advances; Valda Vinson, executive editor of the Science family of journals; and Laura Remis—will form an executive committee that I will chair. This group will set policy for Science Advances, which will always be consistent with the overall policies of the Science family.
As we move into 2024, we also made a decision to raise the APC to $4950. The last time it was raised was over five years ago, so we are well under increases that would come from inflation. The journal is committed to remaining a more affordable option than our peer journals and to maintaining an affordable APC for all authors.
Finally, Science Advances has embarked on developing exciting, new content in the form of webinars. These hour-long programs will offer the community critical insights into leading edge research. In November 2023, the journal successfully launched this content with the webinar “Mitochondrial dysfunction: Cause or consequence of aging”. More webinars are in the works, so check the website for future offerings.
We have never been more excited about the future of Science Advances. The breadth of the journal, its outstanding academic leadership, and the crackerjack administrative team that manages the operations are all top-notch. But, none of it would be possible without the skill and creativity of our authors who send us outstanding content and reviewers who evaluate that content.
For that, we are deeply grateful.