Negotiations - FinELib

"What are the negotiations all about? WHO IS NEGOTIATING? The FinELib consortium, consisting of Finnish universities, research institutes and public libraries, is negotiating with major international publishers over large packages of scholarly journals. WHAT IS BEING NEGOTIATED? The aim of the negotiations is to agree how much organisations need to pay so that their researchers, students, teachers and other staff members have access to this wide array of scholarly  journals. Agreements also define the terms and conditions of use applied to articles, e.g. whether they can be used in text and data mining or as course material. Since 2016, another aim of the negotiations has been to agree upon the ways in which to make a transition from the traditional subscription model towards open access (see GOALS for more information). HOW DO THE NEGOTIATION RESULTS AFFECT INDIVIDUAL RESEARCHERS? The negotiation results affect what e-journal packages consortium members subscribe to, i.e. what e-journals researchers can access. The achieved benefits of open access have an impact on how researchers can publish their articles openly, e.g. with a discounted article processing charge (APC). If no mutual understanding can be reached over prices and terms of use, access to the licensed resource may be discontinued at the end of the agreement period. The libraries and information services of the consortium members will always notify of such situations separately. The consortium has also prepared an ALTERNATIVE ACCESS plan for this eventuality. The plan describes the means that researchers, teachers and students can use if they do not have access to a specific resource. HOW CAN RESEARCHERS INFLUENCE THE NEGOTIATIONS? Researchers are key customers of publishers, which is why their opinions are important to publishers. When in contact with publishers, researchers can express their views of the importance of reasonable prices and open access."