Springer Nature negotiations update – June 2023
Negotiations over a new deal for access to content and publishing have been underway between Jisc (representing the sector) and Springer Nature for approximately 18 months. Following several rejected offers, the fifth offer from Springer Nature has been accepted by the sector, albeit it with reservations.
This guide provides an overview of the negotiations and the key elements of the offer accepted by the sector. More detailed information on specific aspects of the deal can be found in the other tabs on this guide. If you have any specific questions not answered by this guide, please contact us.
What was the sector seeking to achieve?
The key objectives identified by the sector were to:
- Reduce and constrain costs to sustainable levels
- Support a full and immediate transition to open access for UK research
- Demonstrate Springer Nature’s commitment to fair, transparent costs
- Deliver improvements in service, workflow and discovery
- Provide an integrated contract covering both access to research (“Read”) and unlimited open access publishing (“Publish”) which:
- are fully compatible with funder requirements
- actively supports rights retentions options for authors, in line with funder or institutional policies
- does not limit where authors can publish open access research.
What has been agreed?
The fifth proposal from Springer Nature:
- Provides a three year agreement (running from January 2023-December 2025, with a review point after year 2)
- Reduces the overall sector spend by 4.46%
- Creates a single agreement covering the Springer Compact, Nature Research, Nature Reviews and Palgrave journals
- Supports open access publishing through:
- unlimited open access publishing in all Springer Compact titles
- capped open access publishing in all Nature Research titles
- a discount and price cap on publishing in Springer’s fully open access journals.
What were the areas of concern?
- The continued high cost of publishing in Nature Research journals and the cap on the level of open access publishing covered by the deal for these titles
- The lack of transparency over costs
- Ensuring full compatibility with the Rights Retention policies of some institutions and funders.
Despite these reservations, it is accepted that this is the best deal available at this time.
How can I support future negotiations?
Support from academics, authors, peer reviewers and editors is crucial to show solidarity across the whole HEI sector. As a sector, we need to make sure that research is assessed on its merits, not the perceived value of the publication venue and that authors consider their publication venue and support fully open access routes. As authors, editors, and peer reviewers, you can also challenge the practices of publishers and ask how open access publishing costs are calculated and what additional value is added.
How can I find out more?
The other tabs at the top of this guide provide more detail on specific aspects of the deal.
You can also find additional information on the Springer Compact and Springer Nature elements of the deal.
If you have any questions not answered by this guide, you can contact us by email.
You can also find more information about the negotiations on the Jisc website.
