A new white paper released by Springer Nature reveals the transformative impact of Transformative Agreements (TAs) in driving global open access (OA) publishing, with some countries experiencing increases in OA uptake of up to 78% within the first year of implementation.
Titled “Accelerating open access at scale – a look at three transformative agreements,” the report evaluates data from Springer Nature’s agreements with LYRASIS (USA), SANLiC (South Africa), and the CTK Consortium (Slovenia), showcasing remarkable growth in OA publishing output:
• LYRASIS (USA): Published 533 OA articles in the first six months of the agreement, compared to 140 articles in the entire previous year.
• South Africa: OA uptake surged from 10% pre-TA to 78% in the first year.
• Slovenia: OA adoption increased from 19% pre-TA to 73% within one year.
• Portugal: Saw the most dramatic rise, from 6% OA output before the TA to 72% post-TA.
The findings reinforce the critical role TAs play in enhancing equitable access to research regardless of geography or discipline. The report highlights that TAs:
• Boost Content Usage: Subscription content usage by affiliated researchers increased by up to 24% in the first year.
• Expand OA Across Disciplines: Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) saw OA publishing increases of over 2000% in several countries, including gains of 600% in Slovenia and 800% in South Africa.
• Promote Equity for Researchers: TAs enable OA publishing for historically underfunded institutions, early-career researchers, and regions with lower research intensity.
The white paper utilized COUNTER 5 usage data and citation data from Scopus, Web of Science, and CrossRef to analyze OA trends and evaluate the agreements’ impact.
This latest analysis builds on Springer Nature’s broader body of evidence demonstrating TAs as a key driver of sustainable and equitable open access publishing. The full white paper is available online for further insights into how TAs are shaping the future of global scholarly communication.
Click here to read the original press release.
