swissuniversities – the Conference of Rectors of Swiss Universities – has signed a comprehensive “Read & Publish” agreement with Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest academic publishers. The agreement strengthens the exchange of knowledge between researchers, supports research activities and simplifies publication processes. It represents a significant step forward for Switzerland as a centre of science.
The negotiations with Springer Nature took place as part of the third round of publisher negotiations. Open Access negotiations with major scientific publishers are a key component of the Swiss Open Access Strategy, which pursues the vision that the results of publicly funded research should be made immediately and freely available to all.
Read-and-Publish Agreement
Under the agreement, all members of Swiss higher education institutions will receive full read access to the entire Springer portfolio and to the journal “Nature”; members of all higher education institutions participating in the Nature agreement will now receive full read access to the entire Nature portfolio. Furthermore, they will in future be able to publish their research results in open access in the 2,700 or so journals published by Springer Nature. The agreement provides for an article quota that corresponds to the expected needs of Swiss researchers (Gold OA and Nature Hybrid) or is unlimited (Springer Hybrid).
Through the integration of the Gold Open Access portfolio, the agreement now covers the entire Springer Nature portfolio, thereby bringing a cost area that had previously been growing rapidly and was only controllable to a limited extent into the joint negotiation framework.
Members of Swiss higher education institutions and commissioning organisations also benefit from the greatest possible freedom to use artificial intelligence (AI) when utilising Springer Nature publications in research, teaching and innovation.
An important step forward
Luciana Vaccaro, President of swissuniversities, emphasises: “The agreement represents clear progress and an important step towards Open Access. The integration of the Gold OA portfolio enables substantial savings for universities and strengthens the overall governance of the system.”
The agreement will soon be available on the website of the Swiss University Libraries Consortium.
For further information on the negotiations and the agreement: Springer Nature - swissuniversities, Konsortium der Schweizer Hochschulbibliotheken, Springer Nature