We’re really pleased by this week’s announcement from the Society of Cultural Anthropology that their influential journal, Cultural Anthropology will become open access by next year. The plan is that from the first issue of 2014, the journal will be available online globally under an open access license, along with 10 years’ worth of the back catalogue.

From their press release:

This is a boon to our authors, whose work we can guarantee the widest possible readership —and to a new generation of readers inside of anthropology and out. Cultural Anthropology will be the first major, established, high-impact journal in anthropology to offer open access to all of its research, and we hope that our experience with open access will provide the AAA as a whole, as well as other journals in the social and human sciences, valuable guidance as we explore alternative publishing models together.

As far as we can see, the specifics of licensing are yet to be figured out, as are other logistical questions like where the journal will be hosted and what it’s financial model is going to look like. Still a lot of work to be done, then, in making this a sustainable and truly open reality, but we’re really happy their taking the plunge!

Look out for opportunities to discuss these transitionary issues on their website.

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Theodora is press officer at the Open Knowledge Foundation, based in London. Get in touch via press@okfn.org