Springer Nature has expanded its transformative agreements (TAs) in Japan, increasing the number of participating institutions from 10 in 2023 to 60 by 2025. This expansion allows researchers from these institutions to publish open access (OA) in over 2,000 hybrid journals across the Springer Nature portfolio, including Springer, Palgrave Macmillan, and Adis, as well as in the Academic Journals on nature.com.
The TAs aim to support open access publishing by removing financial barriers, making high-quality research freely accessible. Springer Nature operates two types of TAs in Japan: the Japan Pilot Transformative Agreement (RUC) and the Japan Springer Research Institute Transformative Agreement (J-SPRINTA) for non-RUC institutions.
Key highlights of the 2025 expansion include:
• 22 new TAs launching in January 2025, involving 19 institutions in J-SPRINTA and three in the Japan pilot TA, including major institutions such as the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences and National Institute for Materials Science.
• A total of 60 institutions participating in TAs, including 24 pilot TA institutions and 36 J-SPRINTA institutions.
• The TAs will enable the publication of 2,400 OA articles in 2025, more than 2.5 times the volume of OA articles published in 2023.
This expansion strengthens Japan’s position in the global open access publishing landscape, supporting researchers in sharing their findings with a broader audience.
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