Kategoria: News in English

New agreements with Elsevier, IEEE, and Emerald

23.2.2024

FinELib has finalized new two-year agreements with Elsevier and IEEE. The new agreement with Emerald was signed for the year 2024. The agreements allow open access publishing and access to the publishers' journals.

The new agreements meet the goals of the consortium: they will diminish the costs for reading and publishing in scientific journals while giving the scientific community in Finland a wide access to the necessary articles.

All three agreements allow publishing articles under the CC BY license required by many research funding organizations. Post-cancellation access ensures continuous access to articles published during the agreement term, even if the current agreement is not renewed in the future.

Access to Elsevier ScienceDirect Freedom collection, as well as open access publishing without APCs (article processing charge) in the hybrid journals will continue with the new Elsevier agreement. Hybrid journals that have flipped into fully open access journals between 2021 and 2025 stay eligible for open access publishing. For other fully open access journals, 15% discount is available for the APC.

Quota of 3600 open access articles is included in the agreement, which should be sufficient for the articles accepted during the term.

→ Read more about open access publishing in SD Freedom journals

The agreement with IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) includes access to IEEE Electronic Library (IEL) journals, conference proceedings and standards, and allows open access publishing in hybrid and fully open access journals. The article quota of 740 articles is expected to cover the number of articles accepted for publication during the agreement term.

→ Read more about open access publishing in IEEE's journals

The agreement with Emerald includes access to all Emerald journals and covers APCs of 150 open access articles that can be published in hybrid journals of the Emerald eJournal Premier Collection, or in the open access journals Mental Illness and International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management.

→ Read more about open access publishing in Emerald Premier journals

FinELib is currently negotiating for the agreement details with Oxford University Press (OUP), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and Springer Nature (Springer Compact Collection). Despite the prolonged negotiations, access to the journals of these publishers continues, and open access publishing without APCs is available for researchers.

Negotiations with American Chemical Society (ACS) are also still ongoing. ACS has cut access to its journals and open access publishing under the FinELib agreement has ended.

Read more about the negotiations with ACS: Agreement between FinELib and ACS not renewed

Agreement between FinELib and ACS not renewed

10.1.2024

FinELib and American Chemical Society haven’t been able to reach an agreement in their negotiations. Access to ACS’s new journals has ended at the end of 2023.

FinELib and ACS have been negotiating for a new agreement throughout the autumn but haven’t been able to reach a mutual understanding. There are disagreements over agreement details that are significant for both users and consortium members. ACS has cut access to ACS journals, as the previous agreement between ACS and FinELib ended on December 31st, 2023.

FinELib is aiming to continue the negotiations with ACS.

How can I read ACS journals?

Access to journal articles published in 2023 and earlier will partially continue. The scope of access varies by subscriber, so check the situation with your own organisation’s library or information service. Many organisations still have access to articles published between 1996–2023. This is due to the post cancellation rights included in the FinELib agreements. Some organisations have also acquired permanent access to articles published before 1996.

If you need access to articles published in 2024, or other articles which your organization doesn’t have access to, please check out FinELib’s Alternative Access page. You can turn to  your own library or information service for help.

I will publish my article in an ACS journal – what to do?

Open publishing with FinELib agreements has ended on December 31st, 2023.

If your article was accepted for an ACS journal in 2023, and you meet the conditions for publishing, your article can be published open access for no additional fees under the old FinELib agreement.

If your article is accepted for an ACS journal in 2024, open publishing under FinELib agreement is not available. If you want to publish your article open access, you will need to have funding. You can also decide not to publish your article open access, in which case your article will be published behind a paywall. You can ask your own library, information service or research support services for advice in evaluating your publishing options.

Why has FinELib not renewed its agreement with ACS?

FinELib agreements ensure that the rights of users, authors and organisations are clearly defined and protected. FinELib agreements give readers as wide usage rights as possible, and also protect the rights granted by copyright law. Agreements also guarantee a certain level of protection for member organisations in possible dispute situations. FinELib and ACS haven’t reached an understanding on agreement terms, and as a result FinELib hasn’t been able to renew the agreement with ACS.

FinELib still aims to continue the negotiations with ACS, and to reach an agreement which would restore access to ACS journals and give researchers the possibility for publishing their articles open access in ACS journals for no additional fees.

New agreements in the horizon

22.12.2023

Access to most scholarly journals continue in early 2024, as negotiations continue and new agreements are being finalized.

FinELib has made progress in negotiating with scholarly publishers, and negotiations continue in the new year.

Several publishers – Elsevier (ScienceDirect Freedom), Emerald, IEEE (IEL), Oxford University Press, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and Springer Nature (Springer Compact) – have agreed to keeping journal access open for current subscribers. This means that users still have access to read journals from these publishers, even though new agreements haven’t been finalized yet.

Negotiations also continue with American Chemical Society (ACS), but there are still significant unfinished issues in the negotiations. There is no guarantee of a new agreement being reached.

For open access publishing with FinELib agreements in 2024, the situation varies from publisher to publisher. You can check the situation with each publisher from FinELib’s Publish Open Access page.

Finalizing agreements with publishers requires that FinELib’s acquisition principles and other negotiation goals are met. FinELib will inform about new agreements as soon as each negotiation is finished.

FinELib consortium is currently re-negotiating seven scientific journal agreements with a combined value of over 16 million euros in 2023. These agreements enabled the open publishing of a total of 3,660 scientific articles in 2022. Publishers currently negotiating with FinELib include American Chemical Society (ACS), Elsevier (ScienceDirect Freedom collection), Emerald, IEEE (IEL), Oxford University Press, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and Springer Nature (Springer Compact). All Finnish universities, universities of applied sciences and numerous research institutions and public organizations participate in scholarly journal agreements as members of the FinELib consortium.

Open publishing agreements terminating – cancellations possible

29.11.2023

Seven of FinELib’s current journal agreements will terminate by the end of 2023. Negotiations for new agreements are ongoing, but it’s not certain if new agreements will be reached.

If new agreements are not in place by the end of the year, open publication of articles included in the FinELib agreements with the following publishers will end on December 31st, 2023:

  • American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • Elsevier (ScienceDirect Freedom journals)
  • Emerald
  • Oxford University Press
  • Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
  • Springer Nature (Springer Compact journals)

FinELib is currently negotiating with all the publishers mentioned above. Negotiations also continue with IEEE, but the article quota for open publication under that agreement has already been used up earlier this year.

I’m about to publish my article in a journal from one of these publishers – what should I do?

What happens with the open access publication of your article depends on the date of acceptance of your article.

If the publisher/journal accepts your article during 2023, it can be published open access as part of FinELib's current agreement.

If the acceptance of the article falls into 2024, open access publishing can’t be covered by the current agreement. Negotiations for new FinELib agreements might be prolonged into 2024. FinELib’s aim is that articles from early 2024 could be retrospectively published open access, if an agreement is reached later in 2024. However, this depends on the outcome of the negotiations and cannot be guaranteed.

If reaching a new agreement seems likely, FinELib will provide publishers’ guidelines for authors whose articles are accepted for publication in the early 2024 during December/January.

It's also possible that for some publishers, a new agreement won't be reached. In that case, open access publication as part of the FinELib agreement ends on December 31, 2023. From 2024 onwards, you can either publish your article behind a paywall – and "self-archive" by placing a copy of your article in a repository – or you can arrange for the payment of the APC yourself. In these cases, you can check whether your institution has made funding available for paying APCs.

FinELib will provide further information on the status of negotiations during December.

Please check FinELib’s guides for open access publishing under existing FinELib agreements.

I want to read journals from these publishers – how is it possible?

If negotiations with the publisher continue, access to journals is often granted during negotiations, even if the old agreement period has ended. For many publishers, access to journals will continue as usual, even if negotiations extend into 2024.

If negotiations between FinELib and a publisher do not conclude successfully, access to new journal articles published in 2024 will cease. However, for many publishers, access to articles published in 2023 or earlier will remain unchanged, even without a new agreement. This is due to long-term usage rights from previous agreements.

For articles you can no longer access directly from the publisher website, you can seek access by utilizing FinELib's Alternative Access plan or by contacting your organization's library or information service.

Other FinELib agreements for open publication will continue as usual

The FinELib consortium also has agreements which include open access publishing with the following publishers:

These agreements will continue until the end of 2024, and open access publication with these publishers will continue as normal.

FinELib’s agreement with Springer Nature includes the right to publish a limited number of articles open access in Nature Research journal titles. This article quota has been used up.

Looking for better value

14.11.2023

Which scholarly journal agreements offer good value for money for higher education and research? Which agreements make a difference for open publishing, and which agreements give access to the most important journals? And above all, what is a fair and sustainable price for this?

FinELib consortium is seeking answers to these questions when negotiating with scholarly publishers.

FinELib is currently negotiating with seven scholarly journal publishers. The goal is to significantly reduce the price of scholarly journal agreements. In the background are the challenging financial situations at higher education and research institutions, as well as the increasing costs of journal subscriptions.

When evaluating agreements and offers, FinELib emphasizes obtaining the best possible value from the agreements. Evaluation considers factors such as pricing, the quality of the journals included in the agreement, the sufficiency of open access article allowance, and the publisher's commitment to open publishing.

If the price does not reflect the true value of the dealor if there are other significant shortcomings in the offer, FinELib is prepared not to renew the agreement. If the publisher's offer aligns with FinELib’s goals, a new agreement can be signed.

However, each higher education and research institution individually assesses whether the agreement is good enough for them and whether it's worth joining.

FinELib is also considering agreements with publishers that it currently doesn’t have agreements with. Both established smaller and medium-sized publishers, as well as newer open access publishers, are being considered. When evaluating who to start negotiating with, FinELib considers eg. the importance of the publisher's journals to the consortium's members, pricing, and the publisher's commitment to open publishing.

The goal is to achieve agreements that ensure access to important resources for higher education and research and provide researchers with the opportunity to publish their articles open access in the journals of their choice. At the same time, it is important to keep the costs of the agreements at a level that allows FinELib member organizations to subscribe to the materials important to them.

FinELib consortium is currently re-negotiating seven scientific journal agreements with a combined value of over 16 million euros in 2023. These agreements enabled the open publishing of a total of 3,660 scientific articles in 2022. Publishers currently negotiating with FinELib include American Chemical Society (ACS), Elsevier (SD Freedom collection), Emerald, IEEE, Oxford University Press, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and Springer Nature (Springer Compact collection). All Finnish universities, universities of applied sciences and numerous research institutions and public organizations participate in scholarly journal agreements as members of the FinELib consortium.

OA articles for Nature journals have been used up

11.9.2023

Publishing at Nature and Nature Research journals was much higher than anticipated, resulting with the premature end of article quota.

It’s no longer possible to publish open access at Nature journals with FinELib’s agreement. The article quota, which was acquired has been used up, and there are no more articles left in the current agreement, which is in effect until December 31, 2024.

The open articles acquired for Nature and Nature Research journals were used up noticeably faster than expected. The acquired article quantity was based on publication data available at the time, but the amount of published articles was much higher than anticipated.

With the FinELib agreement, total of 33 open articles were published in the Nature and Nature Research journal family's hybrid journals.

The FinELib consortium's Nature agreement covered open publishing in hybrid journals belonging to the Nature and Nature Research family of journals. Fully open access journals were not included in the agreement. With the agreement, the corresponding authors affiliated with a consortium member were able to publish their article open access without a publication fee.

Costs of scientific journals have reached unsustainable level – The future of subscriptions in jeopardy

21.8.2023

Publishers are demanding increasingly higher fees for reading scientific journals and open access publishing, even though the scientific community can't sustain even the current costs. The expenses have risen to a level that doesn't correspond to the benefits received from the services.

Finnish universities and research institutions have long been facing financial challenges. Many of them have had to reduce their staff through negotiation processes. Meanwhile, scientific journal publishers have systematically raised fees for reading scientific journals and open access publishing, even though publishers essentially receive researchers' articles and their reviews as unpaid work.

The FinELib consortium has negotiated agreements with scientific publishers that cover both reading scientific journals and open access publishing. Through these agreements, the costs of reading scientific journals have been shifted to enable researchers to publish openly without charges. However, the overall costs have still risen to an unsustainable level.

"The idea of open science is to make all research produced with public funds openly accessible, but publishers have seen this as an excellent way to increase their profits," says Kalle-Antti Suominen, Chair of the FinELib Steering Group and Vice Rector at the University of Turku.

"Publishers have hindered the transition to open publishing in various ways, allowing them to collect both subscription and publication fees. This is an unsustainable pattern for universities and the scientific community, both economically and in principle. The situation won't change unless we are genuinely ready to reject unreasonable contract proposals and critically reflect on our publication practices," Suominen emphasizes.

The FinELib consortium's steering group has determined that significant discounts must be obtained for the currently negotiated journal packages [link: https://finelib.fi/kustannukset-saatava-kuriin-tiedelehtien-avoimuudesta-neuvotellaan-jalleen/ ] to continue the agreements. Kalle-Antti Suominen highlights that the discounts must be real and not a result of reducing the content of the agreement.

"Reducing the price solely by limiting access to journals or decreasing publication quotas doesn't mean that an otherwise overpriced contract proposal would become acceptable," Suominen explains.

The consortium is prepared that if the goals are not achieved, it's possible that not all current scientific journal agreements can be continued.

The FinELib consortium is currently negotiating seven scientific journal agreements with a combined value of over 16 million euros in 2023. In 2022, these agreements enabled a total of 3660 Finnish scientific articles to be freely accessible. The publishers involved in the negotiations are the American Chemical Society (ACS), Elsevier, Emerald, IEEE, Oxford University Press (OUP), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and Springer.

For more information, please contact:

Kalle-Antti Suominen, vice-rector for research, University of Turku, Kalle-Antti.Suominen@utu.fi

Arja Tuuliniemi, head of licencing, National Library of Finland, arja.tuuliniemi@helsinki.fi

The costs must be reduced – FinELib negotiates on openness of scholarly publications

20.4.2023

FinELib's steering group has stated that the prices of journal packages being negotiated this year must be significantly reduced. This is crucial for higher education and research institutes to continue to license the materials.

Read & publish agreements have significantly increased open publishing in the FinELib consortium, but the current cost level of the agreements is not sustainable.

This year the consortium is negotiating the renewal of seven journal contracts:

  • American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • Elsevier
  • Emerald
  • IEEE
  • Oxford University Press (OUP)
  • Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and
  • Springer.

With these agreements, the total of 3660 scientific articles were published open access in 2022. The total value of these journal packages is over 16 million euro in 2023.

In addition to a fair price, the consortium requires publishers to commit to furthering open publishing. New agreements must also meet the FinELib acquisition principles, which define the minimum requirements for journal usage rights and open publishing.

Open publishing in Lippincott and Taylor & Francis journals continues

7.3.2023

Open publishing was suspended in early 2023 as the negotiations were prolonged. Open access publishing has now restarted in the journals of both publishers.

New FinELib agreements with Wolters Kluwer’s Lippincott journals and Taylor & Francis journals give the researchers from the subscribing institutions the right to publish their articles open access without additional payment. The agreements cover both years 2023 and 2024.

It's estimated that FinELib’s agreements with these publishers now cover all articles from eligible researchers until the end of 2024.

Agreement with Taylor & Francis covers open publishing in almost 2,000 hybrid journals published by T&F from the fields of social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. The agreement also includes reading rights T&F Social Sciences & Humanities and Science & Technology Libraries.

Lippincott subscribers get access to approximately 250 paywalled medical journals. Researchers can also publish open articles free of charge in approximately 290 journals. The publication right applies to both hybrid and fully open journals.

Open Access Publishing in Wolters Kluwer Lippincott Journals

Open Access Publishing in Taylor & Francis Journals

Open access publishing included in new ACM and Nature Research agreements

7.9.2022

Two new FinELib agreements containing open access publishing rights came into effect in the summer: ACM and Nature Research.

The ACM agreement covers access to ACM Digital Library and open access publishing rights in ACM’s  journals and conference proceedings. The Nature agreement includes access to titles picked by the subscribing institution and the right to publish open access in all Research-titles.

Authors from institutions taking part in the agreements have the right to publish their articles open access without paying article processing charges. Articles that are accepted for publication during the agreement term are eligible for this benefit.

Both agreements are in effect until the end of 2024.

ACM OA instructions
ACM agreement

Nature Research OA instructions
Nature Research agreement

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