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¡®Significant reservations¡¯ on UK¡¯s Springer Nature open-access deal

Anger over high cost of publishing in Nature and other titles as UK universities sign up for three-year agreement

ÎåÔÂ 3, 2023
Millennium Footbridge in front of St Paul's Cathedral disappearing into the mist to illustrate ¡®Significant reservations¡¯ on UK¡¯s Springer Nature open-access deal
Source: Getty

UK universities have agreed a new three-year read-and-publish deal with Springer Nature, despite many expressing ¡°significant reservations¡± over the high cost of publishing open access in prestige titles.

As part of the new deal with the German-British publisher announced on 3 May, universities will have unlimited open-access publishing in Springer and Palgrave hybrid titles, while free-to-read publishing will be available in Nature and Nature research journals, although this option will be restricted to a certain number of papers.

Based on modelling, this cap on Nature-branded titles would be ¡°sufficient¡± for British institutions, said Jisc, the UK¡¯s higher education IT consortium, which has been negotiating with Springer Nature on behalf of UK institutions for more than a year.

While the agreement would ¡°result in real-term cost savings for all institutions¡± and was accepted by all universities?that responded to a consultation, a large number had ¡°significant reservations¡± about the deal, added Jisc.

These concerns centred on the high cost of publishing open access outside the agreement and limited transparency, particularly regarding how Springer Nature¡¯s article-processing charges (APCs) are calculated, with gold open access for Nature . Springer Nature was one of several major publishers ¨C along with Elsevier ¨C which opted in November not to participate in Plan S¡¯ Journal Comparison Service, in which journals shared information about their costs and services.

Paul Ayris, pro vice-provost at UCL (libraries, culture, collections, open science), told ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ that the sector would only ¡°grudgingly¡± accept the new deal?because it ¡°bakes into the system the high prices that we¡¯ve seen with subscriptions¡±.

¡°Those APCs of €9,500 are a huge amount to pay. It¡¯s too much for one article, and that level seems to have been built into the new deal. Springer Nature can¡¯t explain how they¡¯ve arrived at this price, either,¡± he added.

Although?libraries recognised this was the ¡°best possible deal that could be achieved at the moment¡±, Dr Ayris said, the transformative deals agreed with publishers were not delivering the change that many academics or librarians had anticipated. He added that they would exacerbate global inequalities?because poorer nations would be unable to pay high-cost APCs.

Other concerns included Springer Nature¡¯s approach to author rights retention, which some respondents felt created barriers to equitable open-access publishing worldwide, Jisc said.

The deal with the world¡¯s second-largest publisher?comes after?the rejection of a previous offer in February?because of cost concerns, with UK universities also vetoing a proposed deal last year?that would have required them to pay nearly ?1 million extra.

Welcoming the new agreement, Stephen Decent, principal and vice-chancellor at Glasgow Caledonian University, said it would ¡°further extend the reach and impact of UK research by providing open-access publishing in 2,500 Springer Nature journals¡±, which would lead to about 6,000 papers a year being published in a free-to-read format with the world¡¯s second-biggest academic publisher.

¡°While this is an important deal that delivers concessions, the goal of fully accessible open research still eludes us,¡± added Professor Decent, who called for ¡°a more inclusive and open research culture, where all contributions to research are valued, regardless of the type of output or where they are published¡±.

Carolyn Honour, chief commercial officer at Springer Nature, said the new deal would ¡°for the first time¡± cover all Springer Nature journals and would also ¡°open up access to UK research¡± and extend ¡°publishing opportunities to a broader range of institutions and disciplines¡±.

The publisher would ¡°remain committed to working transparently, through the publication of data and resources, and extensively with our global partners, to drive progress towards this goal¡±, added Ms Honour.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com

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Reader's comments (2)

In support of Dr Ayris' assessment. This is not a good deal for UK universities. We should have been clearer from the outset that transparency over the outrageous APC costs for Springer Nature was a part of the negotiations. We are also seeing real term rises in the cost of read access, previously simply known as subscriptions. Therefore, this deal from a certain angle might be presented as constraining costs but in reality because of the above and also the almost impossibility of properly costing deals done in another currency as well as being subject to VAT such deals are not good for the Open Access vision, for individual universities (especially large research-intensives) and are a very long way from being genuinely 'transitional.' Professor Christopher Pressler, John Rylands University Librarian, The University of Manchester
If the fine details of the contract are still to be agreed, then Jisc (and their members) could seek to contractually require Springer Nature to share their price and service details through cOAlition S's "Journal Comparison Service" (https://journalcomparisonservice.org/). This free service provides libraries, library consortia, and funders with the ability to quickly compare journal publishing services and fees, whilst enabling publishers to respond to customer requests for more standard, transparent, and granular price and service information. To date, 28 publishers have shared their data through this tool, including Wiley, PLOS, Frontiers and the Royal Society. A full list of participating publishers is available at: https://journalcheckertool.org/jcs/ Of course, Springer Nature could refuse to agree to this demand, in which case Jisc (and their members) could walk away from this deal.
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