Springer SBM and Jisc have agreed an arrangement to take into account UK scientists’ need to comply with multiple open access policies while accessing scientific articles published by Springer, while containing the combined costs of article processing charges and subscriptions.

The proposed agreement will cap the amount paid by UK higher education (HE) institutions to subscribe and maintain full access to Springer’s subscription journals and to make their researchers’ articles open access in those journals – the latter being in compliance with the requirements of HEFCE’s Research Excellence Framework, RCUK’s open access policy and other major funders such as the Charity Open Access Fund.

The two parties hope the agreement will significantly reduce the cost and administration barriers to hybrid open access publishing for UK academic institutions, while supporting the transition to open access in a transparent and sustainable way.

Jisc and Springer first entered into negotiations in response to changes to the UK’s open access requirements in early 2014. Jisc supports education and research through digital services, and approached Springer with a clear mandate and objectives to contain the costs to UK institutions.

‘Springer is proud to work so closely with Jisc on this new direction in science publishing,’ says Roné Robbetze, vice president for sales in north-western Europe and Africa. ‘The UK has taken a major step in further developing open access and we are happy to be the first to have such a far-reaching arrangement here.’

Lorraine Estelle, executive director of digital resources and divisional CEO of Jisc Collections, added: ‘Jisc sees the development of these models as essential in order to contain the total cost of ownership of scholarly communication. Springer has shown a deep understanding of the issue and contributed proactively in finding a model that addresses the needs of UK higher education institutions as they lead in the transition to open access.’

Sorce: Research information