Swedish researchers can now publish their articles in Frontiers’ Open Access journals through a simplified process with discounted fees, thanks to a national agreement announced today between Frontiers and the National Library of Sweden (NLS), on behalf of the organizations participating in the Bibsam Consortium.
This Open Access Framework Agreement underscores the commitment of the Swedish research community to make research freely available in an unrestricted manner to researchers, students and all citizens worldwide. In addition to a centralized invoicing process that covers the publishing fees (article processing charges), researchers at participating organizations benefit from a discount.
This is the first Nordic agreement of its kind and follows the Austrian Open Access framework publishing agreement between Frontiers, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and the University of Vienna in late 2017.
Announced in Stockholm at the Licensing and Open Access conference (LOA2018; #LOA18) hosted by the NLS, the Agreement is open to all participating organizations of the Bibsam Consortium, which includes universities, university colleges and government-funded research institutions. Twenty organizations have already joined, including leading universities. All new participating organizations will benefit from the same terms and conditions, regardless of size or research output. The full Agreement terms will be made public shortly.
”We are now making clear that entering into agreements with gold Open Access publishers is an important route to reaching the goal of immediate Open Access, in contrast to previous negotiations with traditional publishers who offer hybrid Open Access journals which up to now has been the main focus of the Bibsam Consortium”, says Anna Lundén, Head of National Coordination of Libraries, National Library of Sweden.
“This fully transparent agreement sets new gold standards for a fair and transparent marketplace for publishing services,” says Kamila Markram, Co-Founder and CEO of Frontiers. “We hope more countries will follow in the footsteps of Sweden and Austria and accelerate Europe’s visionary transition to Open Science.”
The NLS has been working since 2006 on a transition to Open Access research publications. These efforts increased in 2017, after the Swedish government directed the NLS to act as a national coordinating body for shifting all research outputs to immediate Open Access by 2026.
The Agreement is for 3.5 years, starting July 1, 2018. Researchers submitting an article under the Agreement will have full access to Frontiers’ Open Science tools, including a collaborative peer-review, article and author impact metrics, and enhanced dissemination tools on Loop. All submitted articles will remain subject to Frontiers’ editorial processes, policies and conditions including rigorous peer-review.
The full list of participating organizations under the Agreement is:
- Chalmers University Of Technology
- Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College
- Halmstad University
- Karlstad University
- Karolinska Institute
- Kristianstad University
- Linköping University
- Linnaeus University
- Luleå University Of Technology
- Lund University
- Malmö University
- Örebro University
- Stockholm University
- Swedish Radiation Safety Authority
- Swedish University Of Agricultural Sciences
- Umeå University
- University Of Gävle
- University Of Gothenburg
- University West
- Uppsala University
As of 1 June 2018, Frontiers has 103 institutional membership plans in place with university libraries, consortia and funders.
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