Karger Publishers and Iceland Consortium Finalize Open Access Agreement

Karger is the first scientific publisher to sign a transformative Open Access (OA) agreement in Iceland.

The contract provides access to all Karger e-journals (including backfiles) and enables OA publishing with no additional cost to authors. As it is a truly national license, anyone from anywhere in Iceland has access to the Karger journals. The agreement also includes access to the KargerLearn platform with more than 15 available courses that cover all aspects of academic publishing. 

This transformative agreement is valid for 2021–2023 and includes access to the Karger eJournal Collection as well as unlimited publication for all Icelandic corresponding authors. 

Karger Publishers works intensively to further develop the transition to OA by converting several journals as well as evaluating additional guidelines and services in the area of OA.

“The agreement with the Iceland Consortium is another important step to increase the share of OA worldwide. Karger is continuously driving this development and would like to reach additional agreements with consortium partners this year,” says Daniel Ebneter, CEO at Karger Publishers.

The Iceland Consortium has closely followed the recent movement away from subscription models toward transformative OA agreements. 

“The National and University Library of Iceland supports the transition of scientific literature to Open Access,” says national librarian Ingibjörg Steinunn Sverrisdóttir. “Iceland Consortium welcomes the transitional agreement with Karger, which is the first of its kind in Iceland. The agreement with Karger is an important step for the Iceland Consortium toward the goals of Open Science. For the Iceland Consortium, it is of vital importance that the true national access in Iceland continues and that the transition is sustainable. Hopefully, more transformative agreements will be signed in the near future. Iceland Consortium is an essential part of the Icelandic research infrastructure and believes that the future of academic and research publishing is Open Access.”