Swiss universities have signed Read & Publish agreements with several large academic publishers. These agreements enable researchers to publish open access in renowned journals without paying APCs (Article Processing Charges). Our open access specialist Catherine Brendow explains what they are, how they work, and how Geneva Graduate Institute researchers can benefit from them.
Switching to Open Access
The share of open access publications has increased sharply in recent years. Most funders, including the Swiss National Science Foundation, now require their grantees to make their research open access immediately. The Swiss National Open Access Strategy aims to make all publicly funded research openly accessible in the near future. Similar policies have also been implemented in other countries and at the European level.
Open access publishing also has advantages for researchers. It makes their research easier to access for interested people in and outside academia (especially professionals and journalists) and increases the impact of research.
Transition process
Not so long ago, libraries used to buy journal subscriptions from publishers – they paid to allow their patrons to read. Then most subscription journals became so-called hybrid journals, displaying open access articles paid by APCs and paywalled articles side by side. As subscription prices were not going down (spoiler: they never do, take it from seasoned librarians!), publishers were accused of double-dipping, that is to say making their customers pay twice, to read and to publish. This is the reason why many funders, including the SNSF, refuse to finance APCs in hybrid journals.
The answer of publishers to this criticism was starting to offer “Read & Publish” deals, bundling subscriptions and APCs together. These agreements were initially meant to be transitory: the subscription share should go down, then disappear, and the APC share should increase, with a constant cost, or rather a slightly rising cost (do not dream!). In theory, all hybrid journals should transition to full open access in the near future. However, as we all know, between theory and reality… there is a gap.
Swiss Read & Publish Deals
Switzerland has negotiated and signed Read & Publish agreements with several major publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, Oxford UP, Sage and Cambridge UP. The Graduate Institute is a member of the Swiss Consortium and is therefore a party to these agreements. Researchers of the Graduate Institute can take advantage of these prepaid APCs to publish open access at no cost for them.
The workflow provided by publishers makes it easy and comfortable for researchers. They are recognized through the affiliation mentioned in the article or their graduateinstitute.ch mail address, and the open access option is proposed spontaneously by the publisher. The researcher accepts and a librarian must confirm their affiliation.
Is it really a bargain?
These agreements make it easy for researchers to publish open access in legacy journals. They have indeed enabled a sharp rise in the proportion of open access articles. But they are very expensive and reinforce the position of an oligopoly of publishers that has caused the serials crisis which has been straining libraries budgets for decades. They raise additional barriers to the entry of new competitors into the academic publishing market, as most of the budget for APCs becomes locked in these R&P deals.
A few decades ago, librarians were begrudgingly paying bills that were getting heavier each year. But now, they have started to rebel (albeit softly). They have learned that to negotiate, you must be prepared to walk away if necessary. The result is a new ritual of no deal situations with publishers, especially at the beginning of the year. During a few weeks or months, researchers can no longer publish open access in the journals of this publisher (retroconversion of articles is usually part of a subsequent agreement). In the worst cases, they can not access recent (published since January 1st) articles.
However, the Swiss remain timid rebels – is that really surprising? More and more people are currently looking for cost-effective and sustainable alternatives beyond transformative agreements. If protracted no deals enable financial resources to be freed up for diamond journals, are they such a bad thing?
Should we maintain the current publication system at all costs? Or should we seek alternatives? Let us know what you think!
And of course, feel free to contact Catherine if you have any question! Find more information on library trainings in our guide, and on open access here.
Illustration (cropped): Conclusion of the Contract, Pixabay license.
Geneva Graduate Institute Library Blog 
5 thoughts on “Read and publish agreements: an easier way to publish open access”