This month, in our seventh update in our “Road To Open” series, we are once again highlighting the sponsor funded “Diamond” open access model, showcasing a journal that pioneered the model over 25 years ago. Throughout this series, discover advancements towards open science at both the journal and publisher level, and join the conversation on social media with #RoadToOpen.

Science and Technology for Energy Transition (STET) is an international journal published under a Diamond open access model. Papers are all freely available without subscription, and there are no fees to pay for authors thanks to generous sponsorship by IFPEN (IFP Energies nouvelles) and CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission), two major French research and technology organizations in alternative energy. In addition to the journal being free of APCs and subscriptions, all articles are published under a CC BY 4.0 licence, making the research fully reusable.

Equitable access to research that drives forward energy transition

Oil & Gas Science and Technology (OGST), the predecessor journal to STET, was a pioneer in open access, publishing under the not yet named “Diamond”¹ model since 1997.

In 2022, in response to the rapid escalation of research on climate change and the clear and critical need for a transition to more sustainable energy sources, OGST officially changed name to Science and Technology for Energy Transition and updated its Aims & Scope accordingly.

As part of the realignment of the scope towards sustainable development goals, the equitable open access model was reaffirmed. It was agreed unanimously between the sponsors, the editorial board, and the publishing team at EDP Sciences that, in this new era where rapid, equitable access to research on energy transition is so needed, continuation of the diamond model was more important than ever.

Impact of title change

With the legacy of research published under the original name Oil & Gas Science and Technology, the overall Impact Factor of this journal is temporarily split. In the 2024 Journal Citation Reports™ published recently by Clarivate Analytics, OGST received an Impact Factor of 1.8 and Science and Technology for Energy Transition received an Impact Factor of 1.5, which is consistent with the Impact Factor of OGST prior to the change.

Likewise, STET must now undergo the same rigorous criteria fulfilment review as OGST did to retain the DOAJ seal awarded to the previous title. The DOAJ Seal is awarded to journals that demonstrate best practice in open access publishing. The team are confident that the journal standard has remained consistent across the transition of name and aims & scope, and are certain that this will be recognised and awarded promptly.

Agnès Henri, Managing Director at EDP Sciences, shared: “It was clear that this journal needed to change to reflect the growing criticality of research in energy transition, to respond to the calls for climate change mitigation and repair, and to align with our values as a signatory of the UN SDG Publishers Compact. Title changes are always disruptive to citation and other external metrics, dissemination of important research should always be the primary goal.”

Diamond research informing future development

Science and Technology for Energy Transition has already published a number of topical issues related to the most pressing challenges of the energy transition. As they are free to read, we encourage you to discover the wealth of research available.

Emerging Advances in Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems and Integration

Muhammad Zakarya, Santosh Tirunagari, Jinguang Han and Peiying Zhang (Guest Editors)

Power Components For Electric Vehicles

Hamid Ben Ahmed, Yacine Amara and Mohamed Gabsi (Guest Editors)

Decarbonizing Energy Systems: Smart Grid and Renewable Technologies

Fang Rui-ming and Qiangqiang Liao (Guest Editors)

Access all topical issues here.

Submit your research

Science and Technology for Energy Transition is open to all engineers and researchers in disciplines and fields relevant to the journal’s Aims & Scope.

Read the instructions for authors and submit your research today.

¹ The term diamond open access was officially coined in 2012 by Marie Farge, a French mathematician and physicist and open access activist.