In January 2021 Pluto Journals took the step of flipping all 21 of their Journals into Open Access, which means that all articles are free to read.  By the end of January 2022, the Usage statistics of the portfolio of Journals had increased by a staggering 650%, over the figures in 2020 and by 850% over the figures for 2019.

 “We are delighted to see the significant growth in usage across all our journals, it demonstrates that there is a real international appetite for the radical scholarly journals that Pluto Publishes and the high quality research that they deliver.” Roger van Zwanenberg, Pluto Journals CEO

Some of the most impressive growth was in Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation with +1000% growth and 143,000 usage and Islamophobia Studies Journal with +8000% growth and 141,000 usage which demonstrates that Pluto Journals are delivering significant and relevant scholarly articles in an increasingly crowded market. The Journals that had increased the fastest were the newest Journals and the lowest growth was from the oldest Journals who already had the highest usage in 2020, i.e., before they entered the Open community.

“It has been a significant move for Pluto to make all our Journals Open Access and we are very pleased to join the Open Access community ensuring that everyone can read the quality educational material that our journals produce.”

Pluto Journals like its namesake Pluto Books, works within the radical tradition of Publishing within the English language. Open scholarly Journal articles therefore enables them to offer educational material of the highest standards free to users.  

A number of partners have enabled Pluto to make this move, their original host JSTOR who initiated the transition, Knowledge Unlatched who have enabled it to happen and Science Open in taking them into this field professionally.

Pluto also have a team of Advisors, who have provided valuable advice and support through this evolutionary move: Professor John Willinksy, Pippa Smart and Simon Rallison.   At key moments their advice helped to maintain the momentum on a move that took some courage.

Press Contact:     Roger van Zwanenberg, Pluto Journals CEO    rogervz@plutojournals.com  

  Sophi Tranchell   Londonsophi@gmail.com   +44 777 563 7220

Editors notes:                                                                                                                                                                     

• Roger van Zwanenberg, Pluto Journals CEO rogervz@plutojournals.com
• Pluto Journals is an independent social science publisher launched in 2009 based in London, UK. It publishes 21 peer reviewed scholarly journals.  It offers an individual service, responding to the needs of journals and their editors, including a full production and marketing service.  https://www.plutojournals.com/
• Pluto Journals are hosted on ScienceOpen https://www.scienceopen.com/collection/PlutoJournals   
• Knowledge Unlatched https://knowledgeunlatched.org/ manage Pluto Journal’s Subscribe to Open contracts with participating libraries.
• Full List of Journals:

Arab Studies Quarterly

Bethlehem University

Journal Groundings: Development, Pan-Africanism and Critical Theory

Horizontes Decoloniales / Decolonial Horizons

Institute of Employment Rights Journal

International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies

The International Journal of Disabilities and Social Justice

Islamophobia Studies Journal

Journal of Fair Trade

Journal of Global Faultlines

The Journal of Intersectionality

The Journal for the Study of Indentureship and It’s Legacies

Prometheus

Policy Perspectives

ReOrient

Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation

World Review of Political Economy

International Journal of Cuban Studies

Socialist Lawyer

State Crime Journal

Zanj: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies