Lib4RI-Update #20: Publish Open Access in Springer Nature journals free of charge

18 May 2020

Lib4RI

Swissuniversities and Springer Nature have reached a Memorandum of Understanding for the conclusion of a «read and publish» contract (see swissuniversities and Springer Nature). Once signed, this contract will allow corresponding authors affiliated with all Swiss academic and research institutions participating in the agreement – including Eawag, Empa, PSI and WSL – to publish Open Access (OA) in some 2200 Springer Nature hybrid journals.

The contract period is intended from 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2022, during which articles with a corresponding author from any of the ETH Domain’s four research institutes are eligible for a full discount on the article processing charges (APCs). This applies to all articles charged between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 2022. These terms differ from the Elsevier «read and publish» deal (see Lib4RI Update #19) in that the date of billing, not the date of submission, is relevant. There will be an annual cap on the number of articles that can be published without APCs in Springer Nature hybrid journals. Nature, Nature branded and Springer Nature gold OA journals are altogether excluded from the agreement.

Both parties are committed to working towards this OA publishing agreement, which they aim to sign by the end of June 2020. There has been a non-contractual status with Springer Nature, affecting publications from Springer, Adis, Palgrave, Nature Academic and Nature branded journals since the negotiations with swissuniversities concluded without any agreement last year (see swissuniversities’ press release). However, Springer Nature has been keeping access open and will continue to do so until the contract is signed.

Please contact us at Lib4RI if you need assistance with OA publishing or seek access to a paywalled article. Of course, we will continue to keep you informed about any new developments. For the latest news and detailed background information on the Swiss big deal negotiations, see our dedicated web page.

Read the entire Lib4RI-Update #20.