Library, Research
Maximum number of Open Access articles in Springer journals reached
The Open Access agreement concluded with Springer publishers on behalf of the universities in the Netherlands is based on a maximum of 2,080 articles per year. The possibility to publish Open Access articles in Springer journals was widely used this year. As a result, the agreed maximum number of articles has been reached .
This means that articles that are accepted during the remainder of 2022 are no longer eligible for Open Access without costs to Leiden researchers.
As of today, authors who are to publish their manuscript must be careful when the Open Access option is offered in the Springer portal. If authors choose to publish Open Access, they must cover the cost of publication fee themselves. No central funding is available to cover these costs and they are not covered by the library budget for national Open Access agreements.
We advise authors to get in touch with the library at openaccess@library.leidenuniv.nl so that we can discuss which alternatives are available to make their articles Open Access.
Articles accepted from 1st January 2023 onwards may again be Open access without costs.
Please contact us at openaccess@library.leidenuniv.nl if you have any questions.
What choices do authors have?
When you fill out the 'Publishing and Rights' form in the Springer portal, it will no longer indicate the availability of Open Access without costs. Instead you will see a notification that there is no agreement.
You may still choose to publish Open Access: Springer will show you in the portal the costs of the APC that you will need to pay.
After the cap has been reached in 2022, authors can use Springer's author portal to indicate their choice:
- to publish Open Access at their own cost;
- not to publish Open Access.