Read and Publish: Media release

Media release, 01.03.2024:

The University of Bern's existing read-and-publish portfolio has been expanded to include the agreement with the publisher Taylor & Francis.

Further information

Media release, 03.01.2024:

Elsevier - No agreement for a new read and publish-agreement from 2024

No agreement has yet been reached between the negotiating delegation and Elsevier for a read and publish-agreement from 1.1.2024 that meets the requirements of the negotiating mandate ("Big Deal Negotiations: Aims and Governance" of 22.2.2023).

Publish without additional costs from 2024

For members of the University of Bern, PHBern, Inselspital and UPD (with Uni Account), this means that they will no longer be able to publish articles submitted from 1.1.2024 onwards in open access under the read and publish-agreement without incurring additional costs.

For those who wish to continue publishing articles in Elsevier journals, the conditions for the various Elsevier portfolios (Hybrid, Gold OA as well as Cell Press and The Lancet) can be found in the swissuniversities situation overview and FAQ and are only reproduced here in abbreviated form:

• Open access publication with Elsevier: The APCs must be paid from funds acquired by the authors. This is not recommended in order not to undermine the position of further negotiations with Elsevier.
• Publication in Open Access in a pure Open Access journal: Initially, Author Processing Charges for publications in pure Open Access Gold journals from Elsevier are also not covered by the Open Access Fund of the University of Bern. In this, the University Library is following the recommendations of swissuniversities. However, we assume that the non-contractual phase can be resolved in the first few months of the new year. The situation will be evaluated in February and any changes will then be communicated.
• Publication in Open Access Green (self-archiving): The accepted manuscript can usually be made available in a repository (e.g. BORIS) after an embargo period (between 6-36 months) following publication.
• Publication in Closed Access at Elsevier: No additional costs are incurred. The article will not be published as Open Access.

Questions about the publication workflow? We are here for you: esupport.ub@unibe.ch

Media release, 03.01.2024:

Taylor & Francis: Read and Publish-Agreement 2024-2027: Update on the negotiations

The results of the negotiations between the consortium and Taylor & Francis on a read and publish-agreement starting in 2024 have have not yet resulted in a mutually acceptable agreement. The consortium has provided information here on the preparations made for a no-contract situation.

In order to secure the read-access for Bernese researchers and students (University of Bern, PHBern), the following collections will be subscribed to as of 1.1.2024:

• SSH - Taylor & Francis Social Science and Humanities Library
• S&T - Taylor & Francis Science and Technology Library
• Medical - Taylor & Francis Medical Library

Only when a read-and-publish agreement is reached with Taylor & Francis, researcher will they be able to publish in open access free of charge.

The Bern University Library will provide further information here in due course.

Media release, 04.12.2023:

Elsevier: No contract (yet) with Elsevier for a new Read and Publish agreement from 2024

On November 29, 2023, the Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries provided information on the status of the open access negotiations with Elsevier: "In September, the negotiating delegation determined that the current offer from Elsevier is interesting in its entirety, but does not yet meet the requirements of the negotiating mandate ("Big Deal Negotiations: Aims and Governance" of February 22, 2023). The negotiating delegation then continued its work. As the negotiations are still ongoing and could not be concluded within the desired timeframe, it seems unlikely that a contract can be concluded by January 1, 2024."

Further and more detailed information can be found on the swissuniversities website:

• Situation overview and FAQ
• Factsheet How to get the Article

It is currently unclear whether the two Read and Publish areas will no longer be available from 1.1.2024. The University Library of Bern is preparing for a situation without a contract and will provide further information here as soon as possible.

Media release, 20.09.2023:

American Chemical Society (ACS): 2023 article quota for free open access publishing will soon be reached

Since 2023, a Read and Publish deal with American Chemical Society (ACS) allowed members of the University of Bern and PHBern to publish their articles in open access journals (all, incl. hyprid) without incurring any costs of their own. As part of this deal, which was brokered by swissuniversities, the publisher set an upper limit on the number of articles that are covered per year. Since the researchers of the participating institutions published a lot, the agreed article quota will probably be exhausted by the end of October 2023.

Cost neutrality not possible

The costs of the Read and Publish contract for the University of Bern are financed by the University Library of Bern. From the perspective of the national Open Access strategy of swissuniversities, an additional incurrence of publication costs would mean that the requirement of cost neutrality cannot be achieved. The University Library of Bern has therefore decided not to pay any additional amounts to the already existing Read and Publish contract to ACS.

Publish without additional costs until the end of 2023

For members of the University of Bern and its affiliated institutions, this means that until the end of 2023, they will have to cover the costs for publishing in Open Access in ACS journals themselves. Neither authors, publishers nor libraries can influence this circumstance.

For those who wish to continue publishing articles in open access, the following options are available:

• Publication in Open Access in journals at ACS: APCs must be paid from funds to be acquired by the authors themselves.
• Publication in Open Access in a pure Open Access journal: APCs might be covered by the publication fund of the University Library of Bern. Contact the Open Access team of the University Library. Information can be found here.
• Publication in Open Access Green (self-archiving): the accepted manuscript can usually be made available in Open Access in a repository (e.g. BORIS) after an embargo period (often 12 months) after publication.
• Publication in closed access at ACS: No additional costs are incurred, as these are covered as part of the subscription. The article will not be published in open access.

The open access agreement with ACS has not ended. As of January 1, 2024, it will again be possible to publish for free within the Read and Publish agreement. The acceptance dates of the year 2024 are relevant.

Further information:

• On the Read and Publish agreement with ACS can be found here.
• On Open Access in general is here, or contact the Open Access Team: openaccess@ub.unibe.ch

Media release, 29.08.2023:

Wiley: 2023 article quota for free open access publishing will soon be reached

Since mid-2021, a Read and Publish deal with Wiley allowed members of the University of Bern, PH Bern and the Hospitals Insel and Tiefenau from the Insel Group to publish their articles in Wiley hybrid open access journals without incurring any costs of their own. As part of this deal, which was brokered by swissuniversities, the publisher set an upper limit on the number of articles that are covered per year. Since the researchers of the participating institutions published a lot, the agreed article quota for 2023 will probably be exhausted by the begin of October 2023.

Cost neutrality not possible

The costs of the Read and Publish contract for the University of Bern are financed by the University Library of Bern. From the perspective of the national Open Access strategy of swissuniversities, an additional incurrence of publication costs would mean that the requirement of cost neutrality cannot be achieved. The University Library of Bern has therefore decided not to pay any additional amounts to the already existing Read and Publish contract to Wiley.

Publish without additional costs until the end of 2023

For members of the University of Bern and its affiliated institutions, this means that until the end of 2023, they will have to cover the costs for publishing in Open Access in Wiley hybrid journals themselves. For those who wish to continue publishing articles in open access, the following options are available:

• Publication in Open Access in hybrid journals at Wiley: APCs must be paid from funds to be acquired by the authors themselves.
• Publication in Open Access in a pure Open Access journal: APCs might be covered by the publication fund of the University Library of Bern. Contact the Open Access team of the University Library. Information can be found here.
• Publication in Open Access Green (self-archiving): the accepted manuscript can usually be made available in Open Access in a repository (e.g. BORIS) after an embargo period (often 12 months) after publication.
• Publication in closed access at Wiley: No additional costs are incurred, as these are covered as part of the subscription. The article will not be published in open access.

The open access agreement with Wiley has not ended. As of January 1, 2024, it will again be possible to publish for free within the Read and Publish agreement.

Further information:

• On the Read and Publish agreement with Wiley can be found here.
• On Open Access in general is here, or contact the Open Access Team: openaccess@ub.unibe.ch

Media release, 11. July 2023

Conversion of selected hybrid journals to fully Gold Open Access journals

Wiley Publishing informs that as part of their Open Access strategy selected hybrid journals will be converted into fully Gold Open Access journals. This has consequences for eligible members of the University of Bern, PH Bern and the Hospitals Insel and Tiefenau from the Insel Group: After the conversion period in July/August 2023, no further articles can be submitted to these journals under the current Read & Publish agreement with Wiley.

Articles submitted after this date ("Date of Conversion") can no longer be funded through this agreement. These journals are specifically identified in the title list and can be found here on Wileys’ website.

For peer-reviewed journal articles that appear in pure Open Access journals, an application can be submitted to the OA Publication Fund, provided that the APCs do not exceed CHF 2,500 (excl. VAT).

Further information:

• On the Read and Publish agreement with Wiley can be found here.
• For the offer of the OA Publication Fund of the University of Bern click here.
• On Open Access in general is here, or contact the Open Access Team: openaccess@ub.unibe.ch

Media release, 11.5.2023:

Nature Research journals: 2023 article quota for free open access publishing has been reached

This media release only concerns publications in Nature Research journals; it does not concern the Read & Publish agreement with SpringerNature on journals published by other parts of SpringerNature (Springer, Adis, Palgrave, etc.).

Since January 2023, a Read & Publish deal with SpringerNature allows members of the University of Bern, PH Bern and the Hospitals Insel and Tiefenau to publish their articles open access in hybrid Nature Research journals without incurring any costs of their own. As part of this deal, which was brokered by swissuniversities, the publisher set an upper limit on the number of articles, which should cover about 50% of the annual publication volume. Since Swiss researchers published more articles in Nature Research journals than expected in the first months, the quota has now already been exhausted.

For members of the University of Bern and its affiliated institutions this means that from now on and until the end of 2023, they will no longer be able to publish articles that are accepted for publication by a Nature Research journal in open access via this Read & Publish agreement.

The submission date of the article is therefore irrelevant for counting an article towards the article quota: according to the Read & Publish agreement, the date on which the journal accepts the article for publication (acceptance date) is decisive.
 

Alternative publication options until the end of 2023

For those who wish to continue publishing articles in a Nature Research journal, the following options are available:

• Publication in open access in hybrid Nature Research journals: APCs must be paid from funds to be acquired by the authors themselves.
• Publication in open access in a pure Open access journal: APCs might be covered by the publication fund of the University Library of Bern. Contact the Open Access team of the University Library. Information can be found here.
• Publication in open access green (self-archiving): the accepted manuscript can usually be made available in open access in a repository (e.g. BORIS) after an embargo period (often 12 months) after publication.
• Publication in closed access in a Nature Research journal: No additional costs are incurred, as these are covered as part of the subscription. The article will not be published in open access.
   

New article quota from 2024

The open access agreement with SpringerNature has not ended. As of January 1, 2024, it will again be possible to publish for free in Nature Research journals within the Read & Publish agreement. For 2024, it is expected that the article quota again will be exhausted by mid-year at the latest.
 

Further information:

• on the Read & Publish agreement regarding the Nature Research journals can be found here.
• on the Read & Publish agreement regarding the other journals of SpringerNature can be found here.
• on open access in general is here, or contact the Open Access Team: openaccess@unibe.ch

Media release, 26.08.2022:

Wiley: 2022 article quota for free open access publishing will soon be reached

Since mid-2021, a Read and Publish deal with Wiley allowed members of the University of Bern, PH Bern and the Hospitals Insel and Tiefenau from the Insel Group to publish their articles in Wiley hybrid open access journals without incurring any costs of their own. As part of this deal, which was brokered by swissuniversities, the publisher set an upper limit on the number of articles that are covered per year. Since the researchers of the participating institutions published a lot, the agreed article quota will probably be exhausted by the end of September 2022.

Cost neutrality not possible

The costs of the Read and Publish contract for the University of Bern are financed by the University Library of Bern. From the perspective of the national Open Access strategy of swissuniversities, an additional incurrence of publication costs would mean that the requirement of cost neutrality cannot be achieved. The University Library of Bern has therefore decided not to pay any additional amounts to the already existing Read and Publish contract to Wiley.

Publish without additional costs until the end of 2022

For members of the University of Bern and its affiliated institutions, this means that until the end of 2022, they will have to cover the costs for publishing in Open Access in Wiley hybrid journals themselves. For those who wish to continue publishing articles in open access, the following options are available:

• Publication in Open Access in hybrid journals at Wiley: APCs must be paid from funds to be acquired by the authors themselves.
• Publication in Open Access in a pure Open Access journal: APCs might be covered by the publication fund of the University Library of Bern. Contact the Open Access team of the University Library. Information can be found here.
• Publication in Open Access Green (self-archiving): the accepted manuscript can usually be made available in Open Access in a repository (e.g. BORIS) after an embargo period (often 12 months) after publication.
• Publication in closed access at Wiley: No additional costs are incurred, as these are covered as part of the subscription. The article will not be published in open access.

The open access agreement with Wiley has not ended. As of January 1, 2023, it will again be possible to publish for free within the Read and Publish agreement.

Further information:

• On the Read and Publish agreement with Wiley can be found here.
• On Open Access in general is here, or contact the Open Access Team: openaccess@ub.unibe.ch