INSMI - Institut national des sciences mathématiques et de leurs interactions - Information aux laboratoires sur les abonnements Springer

Google English: "Lab Information on Springer Subscriptions

Cut off access to Springer content as of April 1, 2018.

Negotiations between the Couperin.org consortium - of which CNRS is a member - and Springer ended with a finding of disagreement, the publisher having refused the consortium's latest proposal, which called for a 15% drop in subscriptions. Couperin.org considers indeed unacceptable Springer's latest offer that proposed a price increase of 0% in 2018, 0.75% in 2019 and 1% in 2020 for the so-called "big deal" offer for a bunch of magazines.

The prices of subscriptions to electronic resources, which have been steadily increasing for twenty years, generate significant profits for the major scientific publishers Springer and Elsevier, even though a significant and growing proportion (1) of the articles published in the journals concerned subscriptions are freely accessible. The cost of this access for these items is borne by the authors or their institutions and paid to the publishers. Why then charge access via subscription when the publisher has already been funded?

In order to take this fact into account, the negotiators had requested a drop at least equal to the portion already supported for these items. This request was not fully heard by Springer, which proposed a very low rate of decline.

In the absence of an agreement, Springer indicated that it would cut off access to these contents by 1 April. Researchers will no longer be able to consult the articles published in 2018 in the reviews of the bouquet distributed by Springer except through alternative channels ("deposits" of preprints, social networks, request to the author, etc.) Articles published before 2018 will remain accessible for ESR facilities. In fact, according to the terms of the previous contracts, for at least two years and at no additional cost, the researchers will retain access to a large part of the archives of resources acquired until 2017. This includes for the CNRS, the resources contained in the previous subscription (2015-2017) as well as the resources acquired definitively in the framework of the Istex project (originated in 2014 for the Springer journals).

The French decision comes in a context of strong tensions at the international level. Several scientific communities are mobilizing to stop this inflationary spiral of scientific documentation budgets. The University of Montreal has unsubscribed in 2016 the complete package or Denmark which requires better prices and more services for researchers.

(1) at least 4% according to Springer, but probably closer to 15%, according to calculations by Couperin.org for the bouquet in negotiation

Source: CNRS communication department."