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By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
More Than 700 Research and Academic Institutions
In Berlin on Thursday (August 22), an agreement was signed to publish more than 13,000 articles by German scholars and scientists in open access annually, making them freely available to everyone and raising the visibility of German research published by Springer Nature.
The arrangement—with a final contract to be approved by year’s end—is to be open to all member-institutions of Projekt DEAL, which comprises more than 700 publicly and privately funded academic and research organizations in Germany.
Some essential elements of the new memorandum of understanding:
- The final contract will run from 2020 to 2022 with an option to extend to 2023
- For 2020, the publish and read (PAR) component is based on open access publication of at least 9,500 articles and grants institutions with permanent reading access to 1,900 journals in the Springer, Palgrave, Adis, and Macmillan portfolios. The costs for reading access and open access publishing in the PAR element will be reflected in a per-article fee of €2,750 (US$3,045)
- Springer Nature will offer a 20-percent discount on the list price for open-access publishing in BMC and SpringerOpen titles for all institutions
- List price increases of article processing charges will not exceed 3.5 percent per journal title per year, calculated based on the 2020 list price
- The PAR element does not include Nature and Nature-branded subscription journals or purely professional journals as well as magazines, such as Scientific American or Spektrum der Wissenschaft
- Participating institutions will have complimentary back-file access to issues of included journals during the contract period back to 1997
- Springer Nature and Projekt DEAL also intend to close the gaps in access to archive content from all Springer Nature journals covered by the agreement
The Max Planck Society, as a member of the Alliance of Science Organizations behind Projekt DEAL, instituted MPDL Services GmbH, an affiliate of the Max Planck Digital Library, as a 100-percent subsidiary of the society specifically to serve as the contracting party for the DEAL contracts and to facilitate implementation of the agreements among German institutions.
Projekt DEAL was set up by the Alliance of Science Organizations in Germany representing the vast majority of the most important science and research outfits in that country. The consortium includes universities, universities of applied sciences, research institutions and state and regional libraries. As part of the project, national licensing agreements are to be implemented for the entire portfolio of electronic journals of large academic publishers.
In a prepared statement, Horst Hippler, the head of Projekt DEAL, is quoted, saying that the agreement “meets both core goals of Projekt DEAL: a fair pricing model and a shift towards open access.
“The long publishing history of Springer Nature is highly respected in the German research community, and through this agreement the publisher has shown to be an innovative and open partner ready to deliver the solutions that are best for science and the scholarly endeavor. The emerging contract will significantly contribute to making research accessible in an affordable and sustainable manner.”
And for Springer Nature, we hear from CEO Daniel Ropers, who’s quoted, saying, “This arrangement has taken three years to finalize, which reflects its scale and complexity. But we appreciate the leadership the German research institutions have shown, and in partnership we’ve been able to conclude this journey with a ground-breaking solution.
“The shared belief, commitment and openness of both parties has facilitated an understanding which is sustainable for both partners: for German research, as it enables scientists in Germany, whether from small or large institutes, whether from the physical, natural, applied or social sciences, and whether grant funding has been available or not, to publish open access with us. And for Springer Nature, as it facilitates faster growth, allowing us to benefit from our leading role in the open access migration as a partner to the research community.
Baker & Taylor Signs McSweeney’s
Baker & Taylor Publisher Services today (August 23) is announcing the signing of a full-service international agreement with McSweeney’s Literary Arts Fund, the independent nonprofit publishing company started by Dave Eggers and based in San Francisco.
Baker & Taylor’s assignment covers all of McSweeney’s book and quarterly print offerings, including the forthcoming book Indelible in the Hippocampus: Writings from the Me Too Movement, edited by Shelly Oria. The deal also encompasses McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern.
In a prepared statement, Mark Suchomel, senior vice president of Baker & Taylor Publisher Services, calls McSweeney’s “one of the most interesting independent publishers on the planet,” and Amanda Uhle, executive director and publisher of McSweeney’s, says, “Because [books] share our values and our vision that good stories and beautiful books make the world better, we trust Baker & Taylor to honor the work of the artists and authors we publish, and we’re confident in their ability to bring our work to an even wider audience.”
Baker & Taylor is a supplier to public and school libraries, and its parent company, Follett Corporation, is a supplier to K-12 school and library markets and higher education outlets.
More of Publishing Perspectives’ Industry Notes series is here.