A national deal with Springer: an institutional view of
national transition arrangements to Gold OA
Kurt De Belder
University Librarian
Director Leiden University Libraries & Leiden University Press
Berlin7 – Paris – 2-4 December 2009
Leiden University. The university to discover.
UKB – Springer deal
 Talks started in early 2006 (Leo Waaijers – Jan Velterop)
 27 June 2007: Letter of intent UKB/Springer
Leiden University. The university to discover.
Letter of intent - goals
 Allow authors to gain experience with open access publishing in existing,
established journals;
 Allow open access media to build a solid scientific reputation;
 Gain experience with
1) the economic viability of the business model whereby the publisher is paid
for publication (at the point of input: pay-to-publish) rather than for access to
content (at the point of output: subscriptions or access licenses);
2) the incorporation of open access in the scientific publication cycle and the
consequences for all stakeholders.
Leiden University. The university to discover.
Letter of intent: 4 elements
 Within the framework of the existing licensing agreement with UKB, Springer
undertakes to offer free and immediate world-wide access to articles which have
been accepted for publication in one of Springer's journals in 2007 by
corresponding authors whose main affiliation is with one of the UKB members;
 Springer allows for simultaneous publication of the articles in the open access
institutional repositories of UKB members (DARE);
 In the course of 2007, UKB and Springer will negotiate a long-term open access
agreement;
 The intention of both UKB and Springer is to evaluate the arrangement, which is
seen as a pilot, with all stakeholders, and to actively disseminate the outcome of
the evaluation.
Leiden University. The university to discover.
Some more details
 UKB articles published in Springer journals (2007): 1.162
 Bandwidth up to: 1.250 articles, above bandwidth: extra
charge per article
 Bandwidth does not include articles paid for by external
funders
 When authors receive notice of acceptance, they can choose
to exercise free Open Choice option.
Leiden University. The university to discover.
UKB – Springer deal
 Talks started in early 2006 (Leo Waaijers – Jan Velterop)
 27 June 2007: Letter of intent UKB/Springer
 Pilot prolonged for duration license agreement (2008-2009)
Leiden University. The university to discover.
Success criteria: Springer
 Considerably more published articles in Springer journals
from UKB affiliated researchers;
 Considerably more downloads from Open Choice UKB
articles in comparison to non Open Choice articles in the
same journals;
 A significant growth in the number of citations tot Open
Choice articles.
Leiden University. The university to discover.
Success criteria: UKB
 Changed attitude from funders vis-à-vis OA;
 All stakeholders have developed more insight in the pros and cons of
the present model and OA;
 A financial model for the continuation of the experiment;
 Delivery of management information;
 During the year: monthly score total and by institution;
 Notification about the publications to the respective University
Library so that the articles can be added to the repository.
Leiden University. The university to discover.
Results
 Springer has developed a tool
Leiden University. The university to discover.
Results
Netherlands
 2007: 1.443 articles
 2008: 1.494 articles
 2009: 1.417 articles (so far)
Leiden University
 2007: 137 articles (9,5%)
 2008: 159 articles (10,6%)
 2009: 245 articles (17,2%) (so far)
Leiden University. The university to discover.
Results
 Springer has developed a tool
 Uptake could probably be higher:
 Author becomes only aware of this possibility after the article has
been accepted.
 University libraries have been careful promoting this
 In-depth analysis still needs to be done.
Leiden University. The university to discover.
Way forward
 Netherlands & OA
 We want to continue experiment with Springer and set up
similar experiments with other publishers
 Discussed as part of new big deal license
Leiden University. The university to discover.
Thank you for your attention!
Questions?
E: [email protected]
W: website.leidenuniv.nl/~belderkfkde
W: www.linkedin.com/in/kurtdebelder
Leiden University. The university to discover.