Springer Nature has signed its first sponsorship agreement for open access books with LYRASIS, a US non-profit membership association of libraries, archives, and museums, starting in 2021. The agreement is set to lead to the publication of new open access book titles. The collaboration will focus on climate change, equity, peace, and justice and will provide free access to research in critical areas that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Springer Nature is helping to advance the SDGs through a dedicated SDG publishing programme, bringing to light and disseminating important knowledge related to the world’s most pressing challenges. Since the SDGs were launched in 2015, Springer Nature has published more than 300,000 relevant articles and book chapters, which have been downloaded more than 750 million times. Springer Nature is also leading the way in open access book (OA) publishing, first piloting open access books in 2011. Its open access book portfolio now includes over 1,400 titles spanning all academic disciplines, with more than 170 million chapter downloads worldwide. As research shows that open access books are downloaded ten times more often and cited 2.4 times more, reaching 61% more countries compared to non-open access books, this new sponsoring partnership will foster the advancement of science as well as the visibility, dissemination and impact of research on these critical challenges.
The new open access book titles will be published under the Springer Nature imprints of Springer and Palgrave Macmillan under a CC BY 4.0 licence to give readers around the world free access to the books via Springer Nature’s content platform SpringerLink.
Niels Peter Thomas, Managing Director Books, Springer Nature, said, “We are delighted about this agreement as it marks a new step towards open research, but also further strengthens the contribution of our book publishing to addressing the SDGs. Utilizing our experience and expertise as the largest academic book publisher and pioneer of open access publishing in new ways while also supporting research on the SDGs aids our efforts in advancing global scientific collaboration and increases the impact and reach of our books and their authors.”
Celeste Feather, Senior Director for Content and Scholarly Communication Initiatives, LYRASIS, said, “We are excited to establish the LYRASIS UN Sustainability Development Goal Book Publishing Fund that allows our members to support the production and dissemination of knowledge to readers around the world. As we collaborate to address the global challenges outlined in the SDGs, students, teachers, researchers, and global citizens need access to the latest research to further progress. This new program offers an opportunity for every library to engage and support book publishing on these important topics that academic institutions are addressing through teaching and research.”
