Academics concerned over UK universities’ Springer Nature deal - Research Professional News

"Issues cited include how to reach open access and “eye-watering” article processing charge A group of prominent academics have written an open letter voicing concern about UK universities negotiating a deal with Springer Nature for access to its journals in 2023 and beyond. The letter, which has 35 signatories, takes issue with transformative deals, which are ways for publishers to move from traditional subscription journals to an open-access model. Lead author Stephen Eglen, a computational neuroscience professor at the University of Cambridge, told Research Professional News that legacy publishers such as Springer Nature seem to be pushing for gold open access, which usually means article processing charges (APCs) must be paid, despite there being “many other more sustainable alternatives”.... But academics in the letter have suggested that money spent on publishers such as Springer Nature “could be better invested instead in building ethical scholarly communications infrastructure or diamond open-access models”, where there are no fees for readers or authors...."