NSPG

Nurture Science Publishing Group (NSPG) was established by three academics who were becoming increasingly frustrated with the rising cost of academic publishing as well as the lack of inclusivity this creates and who eventually decided to volunteer their time to do something about it. The idea developed over many coffees (cake, of course, was necessary) and over these sessions we outlined the elements we wanted to see in the group of journals supported by NSPG:

• a not-for-profit platform where authors could publish fully open access quality research immediately without the exorbitant article processing charges (APC) we were encountering more and more
• access to high-quality research for all, without cost to the reader
• a rapid, nurturing peer review process that takes less time without sacrificing or compromising on rigorous review or good science

The timing for our venture seemed right – open science was gaining traction and Plan S was close to being in place.

With the support of the Cognitive Science Institute (University of Plymouth) we launched our first journal, The Open Journal of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience, in mid-2019.

Our ultimate aim is to create a system that can be adopted by academics in other fields who feel their field could benefit from doing things a little bit differently and to do this via a new journal. We also want to continue our efforts to raise funds for bursaries that can support academics whose circumstances mean that our low APC is still a struggle for them.

It takes time for a new journal to build its reputation (even without the interruption as huge as the COVID-19 pandemic) and we continue to do what we can to spread the word about our mission. If you would like to support us in any of the following ways, please get in touch:

• submit a paper – we publish only good, reproducible science but we need more of it!
• be a reviewer or associate editor – be a part of our movement to re-think the review process. The publication process can be critical, rigorous AND nurturing (and a lot quicker).
• donate – we volunteer our time because we believe in our mission but running a journal involves other costs to keep it running; we put any amount raised over and above running costs toward bursaries to help those who need it, e.g. early career researchers or researchers in developing countries.