Leading global healthcare knowledge provider, BMJ, continues to expand its open access (OA) footprint worldwide through new Read and Publish (R&P) agreements. These partnerships signify ongoing efforts to enhance access to cutting-edge research and promote knowledge sharing for the global research community.
New Read & Publish agreements unveiled:
CRUI Consortium, Italy: BMJ has entered a two-year R&P agreement with the Italian Consortium (CRUI), covering the Standard Collection titles and BMJ’s Gold OA journals for 2024. This marks BMJ’s first R&P agreement in Italy.
Anadolu Üniversite Kütüphaneleri Konsorsiyumu (ANKOS) Consortium, Turkey: Introducing BMJ’s first R&P agreement in Turkey, with the ANKOS consortium, it covers publishing in BMJ’s Standard Collection and Gold OA journals.
Ayça AYDEMİR MAZLUMOĞLU, ANKOS Board Member commented: “The read-only access agreement between ANKOS (Anatolian University Libraries Consortium) and BMJ, which has been active for many years, has been transformed into an R&P agreement with the participation of 10 universities from Turkey. This agreement will increase the international visibility and impact of scientific research by enabling Turkish academics to publish more open access articles in BMJ journals. By providing Turkish universities with access to the BMJ’s journals, the agreement aims to make scientific knowledge accessible to a wide audience and to support research activities and open access publishing in Turkey.”
Amsterdam UMC (locatie AMC/VUMC), SURF Consortium, the Netherlands: Expanding from an OA Agreement to an R&P agreement, this covers all hybrid journals in BMJ’s Premier Collection.
Lieuwe Kool, Director of the Medical Library at Amsterdam University Medical Centre, said: “Science is accelerating patient care and it is essential to share the outcome of research worldwide. Our multi-year agreement for OA publishing in BMJ hybrid and Gold OA journals is one of the keystones in the Amsterdam UMC Open Science policy.”
In addition, BMJ’s OA activities have seen deals signed at an institutional level in both France and the US.
France: New R&Ps at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) de Lille and CHU de Toulouse now cover hybrid titles, with Gold OA journals included for CHU de Toulouse.
United States of America: BMJ has added to its agreements at Rowan University and Michigan State University by securing a new agreement with the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt University. Spanning BMJ’s hybrid and Gold OA journals for 2024, this partnership underscores BMJ’s adherence to fostering academic collaboration and open access to help advance knowledge in the US.
Jon Shaw, Vanderbilt University Librarian, said: “I’m excited to announce this agreement with BMJ, which will accelerate discoveries in healthcare research at Vanderbilt.” He continued, “the agreement will enable our authors to access key journals and to collaborate more broadly as they look to impact critical challenges on an international scale.”
Early in 2024, BMJ reaffirmed its dedication to scientific advancement by renewing all existing R&P deals, including those with JISC (UK), BSB (Germany), Bibsam (Sweden), Ireland (IReL), and Michigan State University. They also announced new agreements in Switzerland, Finland, Australia and the US.
Claire Rawlinson, Director of Strategy and Transformation at BMJ, commented, “As a pioneer and early advocate of open access, BMJ is constantly seeking innovative ways to support the research community. Our expanding number of Read and Publish agreements represents another step towards transitioning research to open access, ensuring it is widely visible and accessible.”
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