JMIR Publications and the National Library of Sweden have announced the renewal and expansion of a flat-fee unlimited open access publishing agreement covering members of the Bibsam Consortium through December 31, 2026.
Originally scheduled to expire at the end of 2025, the agreement continues a model that enables corresponding authors affiliated with participating Swedish institutions to publish open access articles in JMIR journals without paying individual Article Processing Charges (APCs). The renewal reinforces ongoing commitments by Swedish research funders and institutions to open science principles.
Under the agreement, eligible authors can publish research immediately under a CC BY license without embargo periods. The flat-fee model is intended to reduce administrative complexity by replacing individual APC invoicing with a centralized and transparent payment structure.
The partnership has been associated with increased publishing activity, with a reported 40% rise in annual output by Swedish authors between 2023 and 2025. Since the agreement began in June 2024, more than 130 digital health research articles have been published without direct author payment, alongside reported reductions in administrative workload and time to publication.
The renewal also supports Sweden’s broader transition away from traditional transformative agreements toward fully open access publishing models that emphasize researcher equity and academic freedom. JMIR Publications and the National Library of Sweden have indicated that the agreement contributes to a simpler and more sustainable approach to open access publishing.
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