Marc-Alban Millet is an isotope geochemist, specialised in the development and application of novel stable isotope systems. He mostly works on questions pertaining to magmatic systems on Earth and planetary bodies, but also sometimes dabbles in low-T geochemistry questions. He did his PhD at University of Clermont-Ferrand working on Oceanic Island Basalts from the Cape Verde and Azores. From there, he took several postdoc fellowships at Victoria University of Wellington, University of Chicago and University of Durham, where he gradually dived in the novel stable isotope field. He then got the opportunity to start the CELTIC lab in Cardiff University in 2016 and has been there ever since.
What is the main issue arising from current publishing schemes, other than Diamond Open Access (DOA)?
In my point of view, although there are other open access formats which are also beneficial, such as gold open access, overall they can still be very expensive to the community and are therefore becoming a barrier. That’s why I joined the initiative of creating a diamond open access journal. We (researchers) have all the skills to be the publishers ourselves.
How does the DOA system work? How is it free for all?
The “bones” of publishing (e.g., website, archiving etc) generally only cost a few hundred euros per year. University libraries are generally happy to cover these. The main cost in scientific publishing is the cost of the people involved. As a community, if we can organise around volunteers, then we can ensure there are no additional costs. The starting AGC team is expected to be about 50–60 people when recruitment has been completed.
However, it’s important that volunteers, especially the ECRs amongst us, get something out of their work that isn’t simply related to the journal. An important part of developing AGC is to embed mentoring and training of ECR in our processes. With volunteer ventures, it is important not to rely solely on ECRs, but to rely on a range of experience levels, and to incorporate mentoring and training.
In your view, what is the main benefit of DOA journals?
These journal formats are free for both authors and readers, therefore there are no barriers for users. The additional benefit is in bringing together the community to create a fit for purpose journal and not just an off the shelf commercial journal.
Does publishing in a DOA journal mean that researchers will have more money for research?
There are many different systems in different research institutions and funding bodies worldwide so it’s very hard to make such inferences. In some cases, where the researcher pays for publishing directly, there would be an immediate benefit. However, in other cases, it may take some years for the benefit to filter down to the researchers.
Have you previously published in any other DOA journal?
My first DOA publication (Hoare et al., 2023) came out very recently in Geochemical Perspective Letters co-authored with a previous PhD student, as part of his first postdoc.
What was your main motivation for starting/joining the the new DOA journal Advances in Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry (AGC)?
As a geochemistry community, we really need a long format DOA journal. In my experience, it is common to receive requests from international colleagues for articles, simply because their host institutions do not have access to them. Journal publishing fees imposed by commercial publishers are increasingly becoming a barrier for research. As a community we have all the skills required, we just needed to organise to produce this journal ourselves.
Why have non-profit organisations (e.g., societies) not done this already?
Some already do. However, the main barrier is the lack of the specific skillset and/or resources required within the societies. This leads to the societies partnering with commercial publishers.
Why do you think that other researchers, early-, mid- and late-career researchers, should contribute to AGC and submit their scientific work to the journal?
The main reason is contributing to a better publishing environment in our field. This is a really good development and will positively contribute to our community. We are capable of creating and maintaining a great journal which is just as good or better than the big commercial journals.
How will the AGC team build the journal impact and attract people at the start?
The onus is really on the mid- and late career stage researchers to publish in DOA journals, such as AGC, in order to create confidence for ECR people and to also help increase AGC’s visibility and reputation. Then the aim is to draw in ECR people. Incorporating ECR people into the AGC team will also help increase the visibility of the journal amongst this section of our community
…and something a bit more personal about Marc-Alban…
Titanium is Marc-Alban’s favourite element from the period table, since it has been the element that he has focused most on in his research (around 10 years now).
Social media handles:
Twitter/X: @marcamillet [twitter.com]
Bluesky: @marcamillet.bsky.social [bsky.app]