On 6 April 2013, in Strasbourg, a Memorandum of Understanding between the European Physical Society (EPS) and the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS) was signed by Professor Luisa Cifarelli, EPS President and Professor Ulrich Schubert, EuCheMS President.

The aim of the Memorandum of Understanding is to strengthen the role of chemical and physical sciences across Europe. It is based on the recognition that EPS and EuCheMS share many objectives such as community building, scientific excellence, support for basic sciences and frontier research.

The agreement was signed during the EPS Council meeting, which brings together over 70 physicists from all disciplines from around Europe.  A round table on open access publishing with representatives from various learned societies and publishers also took place during the EPS Council meeting.

The round table wasl be moderated by Sir John Enderby and EuCheMS was represented by Professor Schubert. Every participant was invited to briefly present the main concerns, policy and implementation initiatives in open access publishing. This was followed by a discussion among participants and questions from EPS Council members.