Springer Nature charts rapid growth in open access articles by UK authors

A new report outlines how Springer Nature has been able to deliver rapid growth in gold open access (OA) articles in the UK. In the five years since the Finch report was produced in 2012, Springer Nature has published nearly 28,000 gold OA articles with a UK corresponding author, according to the report Gold open access in the UK: Springer Nature’s transition. In 2017, 77% of all Springer Nature publications with UK corresponding authors were published via gold OA, representing a 174% increase in gold OA articles from 2013 to 2017 for this group. The rapid growth in UK articles published via the gold OA route has been driven by a number of factors: A strong uptake of both fully OA and hybrid OA journals at Springer Nature. As of 2017, 53% of gold OA articles with UK corresponding authors were published in fully OA journals, while 47% were published via the gold OA route in hybrid journals. Hybrid journals have played a key role in this transition and demonstrate the impact that the UK Springer Compact agreement has had on bringing about a transition to OA for hybrid authors. The Springer Compact agreement which has made gold OA publication a simple option for UK authors in disciplines where gold OA publication has traditionally been more challenging. In 2013, UK corresponding authors publishing in Springer Nature’s mathematics, humanities, and social sciences journals were making between 8% and 11% of their articles accessible via gold OA. From 2016, these disciplines ...
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