18 January 2023
From today, primary research from authors from over 70 countries classified by the World Bank as low-income (LIC) or lower-middle-income economies (LMICs) accepted for publication in either Nature or one of the Nature research journals (e.g. Nature Chemistry, Nature Sustainability) can now be published Gold open access at no cost*. This move recognises that local funding is rarely available for publishing OA in specialist journals like Nature, whose characteristics such as in-house editorial teams and low acceptance rates make it difficult for authors from these countries who are less well-funded.
A key part of this initiative is that authors will not need to ask to benefit from the support. Corresponding authors from qualifying countries whose primary research papers are accepted in principle (AIP) for publication in these titles will be informed as part of the publishing process that their paper will be published gold OA, with the APC covered by Springer Nature. Authors can opt out if they do not wish their papers to be published OA.
Magdalena Skipper, editor in chief of Nature, said: “At the very core of our mission at Nature is our desire to publish the most significant advances in any branch of research. Open Access makes research available to the widest possible audience fostering open science and collaboration. I am excited that with this move we are taking another step towards making research publishing more equitable and scientific knowledge more accessible globally.”
Deborah Sweet, Vice President for the Nature Journals, added: “I am delighted that at Nature and the Nature Research Journals we are now able to offer Open Access to researchers from the low and lower middle income countries at no cost to them. As part of Springer Nature, we are committed to supporting the transition to OA and a part of this is to ensure that authors from less well-funded countries who wish to publish OA in this unique portfolio of titles are able to do so.”
* A dedicated fund has been made available to support authors from LIC and LMIC counties to help them have their primary research published OA in Nature and the Nature-branded mixed model journals because of the unique characteristics of these journals. It is a specific provision to support a subset of authors and only applies to the highly selective Nature Portfolio transformative journals as they transition to OA and will be reviewed at the end of 2023. Fully OA titles such as Nature Communications and Scientific Reports, as well as the Springer hybrid portfolio are not included.