“Be free, be everywhere, be forever.”

From its inception, Journal of Vision has strived to be free, be everywhere, and be forever, as recorded on the back of the inaugural T-shirt in 2001 (Figure 1). As noted by Andrew (Beau) Watson (2001), the founding editor, “A digital, networked journal has the capacity to excel at the access function, since copies of each article can be delivered on demand, essentially without cost, to anyone, anytime, anywhere in the networked world. But to achieve this access utopia, it is essential that the journal impose no barriers whatsoever between reader and material: no subscription fees, no membership requirements, no requests for passwords or other information.” 

Figure 1

 

Legend on the back of the JOV T-shirt printed in April 2001, from Watson, A. B. (2011). It seemed like a good idea at the time: A brief history of Journal of Vision. Journal of Vision, 11(5):ii, 1–21, doi:10.1167/11.5.ii.

Journal of Vision, with the strong backing of ARVO, was largely ahead of the curve in achieving that vision for open access in 2001. However, over the last decade or so the open access revolution has grown and evolved. Today, many funding agencies mandate open access, and some (particularly in the United Kingdom) require not just access to the articles, but also that the contents can be copied, distributed, and remixed. 

While there has always been free access to Journal of Vision and TVST (Translational Vision Science & Technology, another ARVO journal), the copyright for the articles is held by ARVO. However, effective January 1, 2016, the ARVO family of journals (IOVS, JOV, and TVST) is going open access. All content published prior to January 1, 2016, will still be copyrighted to ARVO but will be freely accessible; however, all articles published on or after January 1, 2016, will be open access based on a Creative Commons license (discussed below). 

The default license will be the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 

This license allows you to: 

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  Share – Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
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  The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

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  Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
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  Noncommercial – You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
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  No Derivatives – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
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  No additional restrictions – You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. (Source: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Some funding agencies require a less restrictive open access license, Gold Access - CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This license will be available to authors for an additional fee (see below).This license allows you to: 

•  
  Share – Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
•  
  Adapt – Remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
•  
  The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

•  
  Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
•  
  No additional restrictions – You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. (Source: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.)

In light of these changes, and consistent with the pricing structure of most open access journals, ARVO is adopting a new pricing structure for its family of journals. Rather than the current per page charge, authors will be charged a flat publication fee of $1,850 per article. ARVO members are entitled to a $350 discount (which is more than the cost of membership). There will be an additional charge of $500 for authors who require a Gold Access license. The new pricing goes into effect for all articles submitted on or after December 1, 2015. Feel free to read more about the open access change at http://arvojournals.org/SS/openaccess.aspx.