a3nm's blog

Announcing TheoretiCS, a diamond open-access journal

I'm honored to be part of the team behind the new open-access journal in theoretical computer science, TheoretiCS, which just opened earlier this month.

The goal of TheoretiCS is to publish the best papers in all areas of theoretical computer science, while guaranteeing a fast turnaround time (3 months for a first opinion). It is a diamond open-access journal, which is free for readers and authors: the articles are hosted on arXiv following the overlay journal model, and the reviewing platform1 is Episciences, which is open-source software hosted by the CNRS CCSD. The journal belongs to an independent nonprofit, which avoids any interference from for-profit publishers and also from the large scholarly societies that are currently failing to ensure the free dissemination of our work.

I am involved in TheoretiCS as a "managing editor", together with Nathanaƫl Fijalkow. We are in charge of handling technical aspects of running the journal and making sure everything is going smoothly and steadily. :) For now, our main work has been to study how to adapt the Episciences platform to the needs of the journal, to open issues, and to document how to use the platform.

I am impressed by the journal's editorial board, its distinguished endorsers, and its representatives for many of the major computer science conferences. Making all of this happen has been underway for several years by the team; I only joined rather late, at a point where the editorial board was mostly finished.

I hope that this journal will be a success and an example of how research should be published in the 21st century, i.e., entirely online and at no cost. My involvement in this effort is in line with my commitments towards open access, and I hope it can help make things move in the right direction.


  1. Episciences is the same platform which is used by DMTCS, FI, and LMCS (where I am also a layout editor). 

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