Springer Nature’s 2022 OA Report
Springer Nature has been leading the OA transition for over 20 years
First to publish 1 million OA articles
Nearly half (48%) of our SDG-related articles are published OA
Support over 2.5 million authors to publish OA
Publish the largest and most downloaded OA journal globally
Our 2022 OA report shows us continuing to drive the transition
Our Transformative Agreements (TAs) are powering OA growth – delivering 3x more OA articles
Our OA content is being used more – downloads up 15%
Content in our OA journals continues to be cited more frequently than for other publishers
We are leading in OA books and became the publisher of the largest number of OA books on SDG-related topics
“Having easy and open access to all parts of research is essential to the development of a fully open world and to finding solutions to current and emerging issues. It is something that we at Springer Nature are firmly committed to enabling.
Our commitment to open research shines through with our leadership in open access in all aspects of research and open research practices as highlighted in this report. We remain committed to driving forwards an open, more reproducible research ecosystem that accelerates solutions to the world´s most urgent challenges.”
Chief Publishing Officer, Springer Nature
We were quick to see the value of OA for the research community and invested early
2000
BioMed Central (BMC) launched as the first commercial OA publisher. Its sustainable approach and open policies have guided industry standards ever since.
2004
Springer launched ‘Open Choice’ – the first publisher to offer an OA option on its subscription journals – demonstrating its early leadership in promoting OA. It now has over 150 fully OA titles.
2005
First fully OA journals.
2010
SpringerOpen fully OA portfolio launched.
2011
Scientific Reports launched, which is now the world’s largest OA journal.
2011
First OA book published.
2014
Nature Communications became fully OA.
2014
Springer Compact agreements paved the way for the Transformative Agreements (TAs) of today, which enable authors to publish gold OA articles at no additional cost.
2015
First transformative read and publish deal begins.
2019
We introduced the concept of Transformative Journals (TJs).
2020
Signed world’s largest OA agreement.
2021
Springer Nature was the first publisher to reach the milestone of publishing one million gold OA articles.
2021
Springer Nature provided authors with the ability to publish OA in Nature, showing how OA could be achieved for highly selective titles.
2022
2,000th OA book published.
2022
Innovative OA medical journal, Cureus, became part of Springer Nature.
Open Access at Springer Nature
Making research immediately open
OA articles published with Springer Nature are used more than those by other publishers.
Reach and impact of our fully OA portfolio
With over 600 fully OA journals across six imprint brands, we are proud of our world-leading fully OA portfolio.
Transitioning our hybrid portfolio
At least half the primary research articles we publish will be OA by the end of 2024.
Why publish OA with Springer Nature
Our authors’ papers benefit from higher use and greater visibility, driving knowledge globally.