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Our open access transition enters the 70’s era

The Royal Society journals’ open access output increased from 66% in 2023 to 71% in 2024.

As the national academy of science for the UK, the Royal Society supports open access and open science to maximise the dissemination and re-use of research outputs.

Looking back on the Royal Society journals’ progress over 2024, I am pleased to report that we have increased our open access output from 66% in 2023 to 71% across the research journals. Whilst the publishing landscape continues to change, and in many aspects consolidate, we continue to perform well in our commitment to transition to full open access.

The increase in open access output can be attributed in part to the increase in Transformative Agreements that provide free access to journal content and free open access publishing to authors at signed up institutions. We had over 400 institutions signed up to Read & Publish in 2024, as well as having over 100 low and middle income countries covered by our Royal Society Open Access Equity scheme. 

However, we must recognise that not all markets are moving at the same rate, and there is still interest in covering the cost of open access publishing via article processing charges.

Are the journals really transforming?

In 2021, the Royal Society committed to transitioning to open access and submitted four journals to Plan S’s Transformative Journals programme, and journal data to the Journal Comparison Service. Over the three years of the programme, that concluded at the end of 2024, our four journals, Proceedings A, Proceedings B, Interface and Biology Letters, increased their open access output.

 Journal  OA in 2021 OA in 2022 OA in 2023 OA in 2024
 Biology Letters 25% 47% 57% 57%
 Journal of the Royal Society Interface 49% 57% 66% 64%
 Proceedings of the Royal Society A 27% 40% 47% 51%
 Proceedings of the Royal Society B 42% 51% 60% 63%

Looking at the open access output across the 10 journals, there is an accelerated increase from 2020 onwards.

Total Royal Society journal open access output

Is the open access benefit real?

We see there is a clear benefit to researchers by publishing their research as open access. Authors who choose open access publication are likely to benefit from increased dissemination and citation. Data from articles published in our Transformative Journals in 2022 shows that open access papers received on average 100% more citations and 116% more downloads than subscription articles. Of all articles published in 2022, 99 of the top 100 articles by Altmetric score were open access. Data recorded January 2024. 

Open access advantage infographic

Outlook for the year ahead

We will continue to increase the number of Transformative Agreements we have and break new ground with new members from new markets. 2025 Marks the 360th anniversary of publishing for the Royal Society, and provides the opportunity to take stock of our open access transition to date and to consider what we need to do to continue to move forward.

Using our ability to convene groups of individuals in key roles and with relevant expertise, the Royal Society is currently conducting a review of the future of STEM publishing, which will culminate in an event in the summer of 2025, and a policy document with the key findings and recommendations. The findings will inform our work and discussions with the wider sector on the future of STEM publishing in the UK and globally.

Library Copyright Alliance Champions Fair Use Rights in Comments on US AI Action Plan

In comments to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) encouraged the administration to safeguard fair use principles and prevent licensing restrictions from undermining these rights in a national “AI Action Plan.”

Fair use is an integral part of US copyright law, providing the legal foundation for AI researchers to collect and train content without permission from rightsholders. This competitive advantage has positioned the United States at the forefront of AI innovation globally. LCA recommends that the administration file amicus briefs in AI fair use cases arguing that AI’s public benefits substantially outweigh potential impacts on rightsholders. Should judicial rulings constrain generative AI development, LCA suggests that the administration request  Congress to enact legislation to protect this technological advancement.

Additionally, LCA encourages the administration to submit amicus briefs arguing that contractual prohibitions on copying otherwise permitted by fair use in the AI context are not enforceable. If courts fail to uphold this principle, the administration should urge Congress to enact legislation to explicitly establish that fair use and other Copyright Act provisions take precedence over contradictory license terms.

The recommendations respond to a request for information by the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) National Coordination Office (NCO), National Science Foundation (NSF), on behalf of OSTP.

“American research libraries spend over a billion dollars annually licensing digital databases and journals for researchers,” said Katherine Klosek, ARL’s director of Information Policy and Federal Relations. “By protecting fair use rights, the administration can maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of this substantial investment in America’s research infrastructure.”

Taylor & Francis to make more translated books available more quickly using advanced AI

Following a program of rigorous testing, Taylor & Francis has announced plans to use AI translation tools to publish books that would otherwise be unavailable to English-language readers, bringing the latest knowledge to a vastly expanded readership.

Until now, the time and resources required to translate books has meant that the majority remained accessible only to those who could read them in the original language. Books that were translated often only became available after a significant delay.

Today, with the development of sophisticated AI translation tools, it has become possible to make these important texts available to a broad readership at speed, without compromising on accuracy.

Taylor & Francis has announced that it will make an increased range of translated titles available under the CRC Press and Routledge imprints, across a broad range of fields, including resources for students and practitioners.

To ensure the quality of these translations, the team at Taylor & Francis has spent a year testing different AI tools, a process which included assessment of AI outputs by expert translators and detailed comparisons of AI versions with those produced by human translators.

All new manuscripts produced through this AI-translation publication route will be copyedited and then reviewed by Taylor & Francis editors and the books’ authors before publication. Comprehensive glossaries will be used to train the AI on technical and subject-specific terminology, ensuring that there is no loss of meaning between translations.

This new approach to book translation will bring a range of benefits to authors. Previously, most authors would have had to arrange for a translation of their work before they could submit it to a publisher for consideration. This step will no longer be required for proposals sent to Taylor & Francis in over 30 languages, saving authors considerable upfront costs. With many more books being published in translation, authors will also see the impact of their work increased significantly and new research collaboration opportunities opened up.

Jeremy North, Taylor & Francis Books Managing Director, said: “Taylor & Francis has a proud history of making outstanding books available in English for an international readership. Our China Perspectives series is a good example of this, which now includes over 350 titles by leading Chinese scholars. However, we have always been aware that our translations program represented just the tip of the iceberg, which is why we were keen to explore whether AI could help.”

North added: “This new initiative, which we will be working on hand-in-hand with our regional publishing partners, is a very positive use of AI technology. It promises to promote better understanding between cultures and accelerate awareness of the knowledge required to meet today’s challenges, regardless of where it is first published.”

Prospective authors can get in touch with the Taylor & Francis Editorial Contact for their subject area to enquire about AI translation.

Further details about how Taylor & Francis is using AI technology to enhance the publishing process are available at: taylorandfrancis.com/about/ai/

MDPI in 2024: Research Integrity, Expanding Global Reach, and Strengthening Open Access

MDPI has released its 2024 Achievements Report, highlighting key milestones in its commitment to open access publishing. Over the past year, MDPI tripled the size of its research integrity team, expanded its global workforce by 750 to reach 6,650 staff across 21 offices, and published 238,000 peer-reviewed open-access articles. The publisher also recorded more than 25 million downloads of its fully open-access research, reinforcing its role in making knowledge freely accessible worldwide.

“Reflecting on 2024, we remain committed to making research accessible to all,” said Stefan Tochev, CEO of MDPI. “Our success is a testament to the dedication of our employees, authors, reviewers, and partners. Together, we are shaping the future of scholarly communication.”

Strengthening Research Integrity

In 2024, MDPI made significant investments in research integrity. Alongside tripling the size of its dedicated integrity team, the company introduced key updates to its publication ethics policies, enhancing transparency in corrections and addressing the evolving role of Generative AI (GenAI) in publishing. MDPI also joined global initiatives such as United2Act and STM’s Integrity Hub to further support best practices in scholarly publishing.

These efforts contributed to a rigorous peer review process, with 215,000 expert reviewers evaluating nearly 600,000 submitted manuscripts. Of these, 238,000 were published, reflecting an overall rejection rate of 60%.

MDPI’s journals strengthened their presence in major multidisciplinary databases, including Web of Science (Clarivate), Scopus (Elsevier), the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s platforms (PubMed Central, PubMed, and MEDLINE), Engineering Village, and Chemical Abstracts (CAS). More than 90% of MDPI journals evaluated for Web of Science were accepted, and just under 300 journals are expected to receive a Journal Impact Factor in 2025. Overall, 97% of MDPI’s 2024 articles are indexed in Web of Science.

“Our strengthened focus on research integrity underscores MDPI’s commitment to upholding the highest publishing standards,” added CEO Stefan Tochev. “We have grown our research integrity team and updated key ethical policies, proactively addressing emerging challenges while ensuring a robust peer review process. The strong presence of MDPI journals in leading databases reflects the trust placed in us by researchers and institutions worldwide.”

Global Growth & Community Engagement

MDPI continued to expand its global footprint in 2024. For example, amid a 15–20% increase in submissions from the Asia-Pacific region, the company opened a new office in South Korea. Additionally, MDPI established 68 new institutional partnerships worldwide, bringing the total number to more than 900. A landmark agreement with ZB MED in Germany now provides open-access support to 110 universities and research institutions.

MDPI’s commitment to an author-centric publishing experience was reflected in positive feedback from its community. In 2024, 95% of submitting authors rated their overall experience as excellent or good, while 92% praised the peer review process. Reviewers and guest editors also expressed high satisfaction, with 82% and 84% rating their experiences positively respectively.

“Our continued investment in the editorial community demonstrates MDPI’s commitment to supporting researchers worldwide,” said CEO Stefan Tochev. “Expanding into South Korea and establishing new institutional partnerships strengthens our global reach. Meanwhile, the overwhelmingly positive feedback from authors, reviewers, and editors reaffirms our dedication to maintaining a high-quality, author-focused publishing experience.

“Building on the progress of 2024, MDPI remains focused on advancing research integrity, expanding access to high-quality open research, and strengthening collaborations with the global research community. The company will continue to adapt to emerging publishing trends and maintain its commitment to rigorous editorial standards.”

https://www.mdpi.com/annual-report-2024

Silverchair & Hum Announce Alchemist Review and ScholarOne Manuscripts Partnership

Silverchair and Hum have announced a strategic partnership that integrates Hum’s recently launched Alchemist Review with ScholarOne Manuscripts. This collaboration builds on the existing Silverchair Universe partnership between the two organizations and will allow publishers, editors, and reviewers to access Alchemist Review’s key manuscript insights including central claims, methodology, citation integrity, and research originality. The partnership between Hum, Silverchair, and trialing publishers is intended to accelerate the pace of experimentation and critical evaluation of applying AI to submission, peer review, and editorial challenges.

“We’re excited to bring Hum’s AI-powered manuscript intelligence to the scholarly community,” said Dustin Smith, Co-founder and President of Hum. “This partnership represents our shared commitment to supporting editors and reviewers with tools that distill essential manuscript insights so they have more time to focus on the research.”

Developed in collaboration with GroundedAI, Alchemist Review assists editors and reviewers by automatically extracting core claims, assessing methodologies, evaluating statistical rigor, and validating citations within manuscripts—capabilities that will soon be available to publishers the participate in the ScholarOne and Alchemist Review trial.

“ScholarOne has been a trusted platform for manuscript submission and review for over two decades,” said Will Schweitzer, CEO at Silverchair. “By partnering with Hum and supporting Alchemist Review’s AI capabilities, we’re enabling publishers to harness the power of AI at the earliest stages of the review process. Solutions like Alchemist Review may reduce editorial time-to-first decision and allow editorial teams to focus on evaluating research and serving their authors. This partnership is part of our commitment to innovation, supporting an ecosystem of solutions, and delivering valuable features to our publishers.”

The integration delivers several key benefits to publishers and their editorial teams:

  • Immediate Access to Alchemist’s Key Manuscript Insights: Editors receive comprehensive manuscript assessment 
  • Enhanced Quality Control: Automated citation validation and methodology assessment provide an additional information to support editorial decisions
  • Reduced Administrative Burden: By automating routine evaluation tasks, editorial staff have more time to focus on strategic decision-making and author communication

The integrated solution is currently available as a limited release to select ScholarOne customers. Visit hum.works/review for details. 

Charlesworth Partners with JOMI to Expand Access to Surgical Education in China

Charlesworth, an Enago company, a leading STM publishing solutions provider, is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Journal of Medical Insight (JOMI), a globally renowned provider of innovative video-based surgical education. The partnership will harness Charlesworth’s extensive expertise and sales network to make JOMI’s peer-reviewed surgical video journal accessible to a wider range of medical professionals across China.

This collaboration establishes a strategic alignment where Charlesworth will champion JOMI’s forward-thinking resources and connect them with key institutions, researchers, and libraries throughout China. Drawing upon considerable knowledge of the Chinese STM market and a history of success with localised sales strategies, Charlesworth is well-placed to deliver a competitive edge to JOMI in this significant market.

“JOMI is committed to advancing surgical education by providing high-quality, peer-reviewed video content that enhances learning and skill development. Our partnership with Charlesworth marks an exciting milestone, allowing us to bring this invaluable resource to medical professionals, students, and institutions across China. We look forward to supporting the next generation of surgeons with unparalleled access to expert-led surgical insights,” said Olivier Diesnis, VP of Business Development & Partnerships at JOMI

Michael Evans, CEO of Charlesworth, commented: “Partnering with JOMI allows us to deliver critical surgical knowledge to the Chinese medical community. We’re committed to connecting publishers with researchers to accelerate medical innovation globally, and we are well-positioned to support JOMI’s growth in the Chinese market.”

ResearchGate and IntechOpen announce new Journal Home partnership for their open access journal portfolio

ResearchGate, the leading professional network for researchers, and IntechOpen, a prominent open access and open science publisher, have announced a new partnership that will increase the reach and brand visibility of IntechOpen’s journals through Journal Home.

Founded by scientists, IntechOpen has long been committed to making academic publishing more accessible worldwide. This new agreement covers their open access journals in the rapidly advancing interdisciplinary fields of technology and environmental sciences. The partnership will expand discoverability and usage for these titles, providing immediate access to newly published content to ResearchGate’s active community of over 25 million+ researchers.

Journal Home will also enable IntechOpen to grow journal discoverability and awareness globally, increasing usage of their article content and growing authorship through new and existing authors. Dedicated journal profiles providing key journal information and content will allow ResearchGate members to understand how they are connected to a journal’s community. Additionally, the journals will have prominent branding on all associated article pages and other relevant touchpoints with members. Journal Home also supports author engagement throughout their researcher cycle and beyond the published article, building deeper relationships with relevant author communities, attracting new authors and increasing author loyalty.

IntechOpen journal authors will also benefit from having their articles automatically added to their ResearchGate profiles, boosting engagement with their research and making it easier for them to connect with their readers, including unique insights on who is reading and citing their work.
“IntechOpen journals are driven by the belief that science moves forward when knowledge is open, accessible, and shared without barriers. Through open science, we empower researchers to collaborate, innovate, and push the boundaries of discovery. We are dedicated to giving our authors the best possible visibility, ensuring their work reaches the right communities and makes a real impact. Our new Journal Home partnership strengthens our commitment to democratising knowledge, fostering collaboration, and creating a fair and inclusive space where every researcher has the opportunity to contribute and thrive,” said Natalia Reinić Babić, Head of Journal Publishing and Open Science at IntechOpen.

Sören Hofmayer, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of ResearchGate, commented, “IntechOpen’s journals address some of the world’s toughest challenges in engineering, computer science and robotics, and the environment. Journal Home’s unique network capabilities and enhanced discovery and access for journals will grow both these journals’ reader and author communities. We’re excited to help amplify and encourage greater international exchange on these important areas of research.”

For more information about Journal Home, please visit www.researchgate.net/journal-home

For more information about ResearchGate, please visit www.researchgate.net

For more information about IntechOpen Journals, please visit www.intechopen.com/journals

IOP Publishing celebrates outstanding peer reviewers

IOP Publishing (IOPP) is delighted to announce the recipients of its Outstanding Reviewer Awards 2024. These annual awards recognise reviewers whose peer review reports have been exceptional over the past year and acknowledge the crucial role of peer review in maintaining the quality and integrity of research. 

The outstanding reviewers were chosen from over 35,000 who had submitted peer review reports for IOPP journals in 2024. The selection was made by IOPP’s journal editors based on the number, timeliness, and quality of the reports. 

Miriam Maus, Chief Publishing officer at IOP Publishing said: “Peer review is a critical component of scholarly communication, safeguarding the quality, validity and rigour of academic work. Thank you to all the dedicated and competent reviewers providing this valuable service, and congratulations to this year’s award winners.” 

The awards are part of IOPP’s commitment to recognising and rewarding peer reviewers for the work that they do. Over 5,000 reviewers have now boosted their peer review competency through IOPP’s Peer Review Excellencecertification program, the world’s first free peer review training and certification initiative dedicated to the physical sciences. The program offers a blend of digital and in-person learning with the opportunity to review a manuscript in real time, under the tutelage of experienced editors and reviewers of IOPP journals. More than 16,000 reviewers have earned ‘IOP Trusted Reviewer’ status, a distinction reserved for the top 15% of reviewers who demonstrate exceptional diligence and excellence in their work. 

Take a look at 2024’s IOPP Outstanding Reviewers 

Elsevier launches ScienceDirect AI to transform research with rapid mission-critical insights from trusted content

New generative AI tool on ScienceDirect, the world’s largest platform for peer-reviewed research used by millions of researchers each day, saves half of literature research time, supports better outcomes

Elsevier, a global leader in advanced information and decision support, today launches ScienceDirect, a cutting-edge generative AI tool for researchers. It is designed to transform the way researchers work by enabling them to instantly extract, summarize and compare trusted insights from millions of full-text articles and book chapters on ScienceDirect, the world’s largest platform for trusted, peer-reviewed research.

Researchers grapple with an ever-growing and overwhelming volume of information and need to quickly get accurate insights they can rely on. Studies show that they spend 25%-35% of their time sifting through literature. ScienceDirect AI helps address this challenge by drawing on the broadest and deepest content set of millions of peer-reviewed full-text research articles and book chapters to generate instant accurate summaries and highlight key findings, while providing references to support reproducibility and integrity of research.

Broadest and deepest verified content set with power of generative AI: ScienceDirect AI surfaces insights from the world’s largest corpus of peer-reviewed full-text articles and book chapters.

Traceable claims, rooted in the scientific record, shown in context: Traceability and reproducibility of information are vital for research integrity. To ensure reliable insights that can be replicated, ScienceDirect AI provides clear links to sources of information and claims, including exact passages within research articles, offering the option to explore further.

Responsible AI: ScienceDirect AI is purposefully built to ensure accuracy and reduce the risk of hallucinations and biases. Users can transparently see how the tool reaches answers.

Developed with and for researchers: Over 30,000 researchers and librarians from 70 universities and R&D intensive corporations globally helped test and develop ScienceDirect AI. Building on the feedback received, the tool can save 50% of time spent on literature research and help to enhance their research.

ScienceDirect AI includes the following features:

Users can search and get answers from within the full-text of 14 million articles and book chapters, using their own words to describe what they need and why. ScienceDirect AI will search across the millions of documents in its index to provide a Summary Response with references, Source Snippets for each reference and short Related Insights summaries, while linking back to the original document.

This conversational feature answers questions about the content of a specific full-text article or book chapter and allows researchers to ask further questions of the document. Users can click on references within the summaries to jump to locations in the article where the answer comes from, it also suggests research questions.

Comparing and synthesizing literature can be very time consuming. ScienceDirect AI’s unique Compare Experiments tool takes a set of articles and creates a table breaking down each experiment within them, drawing out the key aspects of each including goals, methods, results.

Judy Verses, Elsevier President of Academic and Government Markets, said: “Feedback from users worldwide suggests ScienceDirect AI could be a game changer for researchers who are grappling with information overload and want to get accurate insights they can rely on, fast. ScienceDirect is the platform of choice globally for millions of researchers, so this new generative AI tool will seamlessly integrate into their current ways of working, enabling them to dedicate more time to research and achieve results. We are committed to working with researchers to continually develop innovative solutions to help them advance science and human progress.”

Matías Montero, PhD Student in the Department of Education, University of Oxford, who has taken part in ScienceDirect AI testing, said: “I’ve been thinking about how much time ScienceDirect AI has saved me lately. I estimate with all the core features I use – search, reading assistant, and uploading and querying my own PDFs – I’m saving about an hour each day on my research workflow. It’s very valuable! It lets me dive deeper into reading relevant, important papers and dedicate more hours to writing, instead of getting lost in search or manually pulling out key takeaways.”

Professor Paulo Botelho Pires, from the Accounting and Business School at Porto Institute, who has taken part in ScienceDirect AI testing, said: “ScienceDirect’s AI tool has transformed the way I work. Amidst an ecosystem with AI tools that hallucinate or provide false information, this tool stands out for its precision. The quality of information I receive spares me hours of search. Its effectiveness has allowed me to expand the scope of my research projects, investigate more diverse lines of research and produce superior work.”

Elsevier is partnering with the research community to develop solutions that help researchers more easily discover, analyze and synthesize research using trusted content powered by responsible AI. Scopus AI, launched in January 2024, draws on Scopus’ curated collection of research data and abstracts from over 7,000 publishers globally. Like a telescope, Scopus AI provides a broad view of the full research landscape and helps to make interdisciplinary connections to support strategy and planning. ScienceDirect AI is complementary, providing a microscopic deep-dive into millions of full-text articles and book chapters, for detailed analysis. By integrating its high-quality trusted content and data with responsible AI across its platforms, Elsevier aims to help advance science, to advance human progress.

ScienceDirect AI was developed in line with Elsevier’s Responsible AI Principles and Privacy Principles to ensure the highest standards of data privacy and security. ScienceDirect AI’s use of third-party LLMs is private, no information is stored or used to train public models, and all data is stored in a protected and private environment exclusive to Elsevier. ScienceDirect is ISO27001compliant. For more than a decade, Elsevier has been using AI and machine learning technologies in its products combined with its unparalleled peer-reviewed content, extensive data sets and sophisticated analytics to help researchers, clinicians, students and educators achieve their goals.

ScienceDirect AI is available to purchase now for customers. For further information and contact details, please visit: http://elsevier.io/sciencedirect-ai

AIAA chooses Kudos profit-sharing partnership to provide new promotional support package to authors

Kudos, the platform for showcasing research, has been selected by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to offer its authors a cutting-edge promotional package aimed at maximizing and accelerating readership and impact for research publications.

Through the new partnership, AIAA authors will be offered an innovative promotional package that leverages plain language summaries and search marketing to build audiences. As competition for funding, career advancement, and recognition intensifies, researchers have proven increasingly willing to allocate personal or grant resources to tools that accelerate publication performance. Kudos’ b2c profit-sharing model helps societies and publishers quickly scale up new skills, services and revenue streams.

As the market leader, with 12 years’ experience in summarizing and promoting research publications and over 550,000 registered users, Kudos brings unparalleled experience and resources to support AIAA authors in reaching wider audiences and boosting their professional impact. The new offering underscores AIAA’s forward-thinking approach to author support and community engagement.

“As the research landscape becomes increasingly competitive, providing our members with innovative tools to enhance their professional profiles is more important than ever,” said Michele Dominiak, Senior Vice President, Publishing and Education at AIAA. “This partnership allows us to explore a new approach to delivering valuable services that benefit both our authors and the industry.”

“We are delighted to partner with AIAA to support their authors in boosting the visibility and reach of their research,” said David Sommer, Chief Product Officer and Co-founder of Kudos. “This collaboration demonstrates how scholarly societies can embrace new business models while expanding author support and enhancing content reach and readership. By leveraging Kudos’ expertise and proven promotional strategies, AIAA authors will be better equipped to build academic influence in an increasingly competitive landscape.”

Collaboration and inclusivity key to shaping next-generation open access

This month marks the beginning of the negotiations, led by Jisc on behalf of the higher education sector and in collaboration with key sector bodies including Universities UK (UUK), SCONUL and Research Libraries UK, to discuss how UK universities continue to access and publish open access in the journals from the five largest publishers of academic research.

Next Generation Open Access is a new world-leading initiative led by Jisc via its strategic groups, which aims to shape the future of scholarly publishing. It has two aims; help institutions address immediate financial challenges and radically expand participation in open research. By transitioning from high growth, high cost article based agreements to those that are more inclusive, we aim to advance long term sustainability, drive innovation and partnerships.

Open access to scholarly content is foundational to accelerating societal progress through open research, advancing the latest scientific advancements, fostering innovation and promoting equity. Investment in the Next Generation agreements will benefit researchers, institutions, industry and civic collaborations by broadening participation in research.

Jisc is leading sector-owned negotiations that ensure UK universities speak with one voice to achieve collective goals. The collective approach is taken between the sector and the five largest publishers of journal research (Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, and Sage).

Jisc’s March 2024 report A Review of Transitional Agreements in the UK highlighted that the UK is transitioning to open access faster than the global rate, but current article-based models exclude many researchers from underfunded settings and places a greater emphasis on scale of output. Pioneering open research practices such as sharing underlying data and adopting models that allow access to research and open access publication without any author or reader facing fees offer viable, inclusive alternatives that promote greater equity and sustainability. The negotiations will look to explore these alternative models, aligning outcomes more closely with institutional values.

The sector’s negotiations will continue through the summer, with the goal to launch new agreements in November. Further background, sector requirements, and key dates can be viewed on the Jisc website atNext generation open access – Jisc.    

Springer Nature achieves revenue and profit targets and projects further growth for 2025

  • Revenue grew by 5% on an underlying[1] basis to €1,847 million and adjusted operating profit rose by 7% on an underlying[1] basis to €512 million
  • Research was main growth driver, posting underlying[1] 6% revenue increase following strong performance of the Open Access (OA) Journals portfolio
  • For the first time, Springer Nature published 50% of its primary research articles OA
  • Continued focus on tech & AI applications to further improve the publishing process
  • Guidance for 2025: revenue expected in range of €1,885 million to €1,935 million[2]; adjusted operating profit margin at least at the level of 2024

Springer Nature, one of the leading publishers of research in the world, today announced its results for the financial year 2024, demonstrating continued growth and a strong operational performance. Revenue was €1,847 million, representing, on an underlying[1] basis, a 5% increase over the same period in 2023. Adjusted operating profit increased to €512 million, equating to underlying[1] growth of 7%.

Frank Vrancken Peeters, CEO of Springer Nature, said: “Our strong results demonstrate our ability to consistently deliver value for our communities while driving innovation in the academic publishing industry. We publish an ever-increasing amount of high-quality open access content and invest in technology and people to ensure we consistently outperform the market while growing responsibly and sustainably.”

The Research segment continues to be the main driver of Springer Nature’s growth. Research saw a 6% underlying[3] revenue growth to €1,414 million, primarily due to the excellent performance of the OA Journals portfolio. In 2024, Springer Nature achieved a significant milestone by publishing 50% of its primary research articles OA for the first time. This achievement underscores the company’s leadership in the transition to OA, providing greater value to the research community by enhancing the accessibility and impact of scientific research. OA articles on average receive significantly more downloads, citations, and attention compared to non-OA articles.

The Education segment supported overall growth, with revenue increasing 3% on an underlying[3] basis to €235 million. This was driven by a strong performance in India and South Africa. The Health segment’s revenue was €188 million, which was broadly stable on an underlying[3] basis compared to the previous year. A decline in advertising revenue due to cautious spending from the pharma industry and the impact of changes in German health insurance legislation was offset by strong revenue growth in Cureus.

Springer Nature continued to make significant investments in technology and AI to improve and accelerate the publishing process and ensure that the research it publishes is robust and can be trusted. In 2024, technology-related investments totalled €177 million. The company continues to adhere to clear principles when developing and using AI tools, including making sure that any decisions are always taken by a person.

Free Cash Flow for 2024 rose to €219 million, up from €165 million in the previous year. This improvement was driven by strong operating results, favourable working capital development, and reduced one-offs. Consequently, Springer Nature’s financial leverage continued to improve, with a reduction in the financial leverage ratio to 2.3x net debt/EBITDA from 2.9x at the end of 2023. The proceeds from its IPO also contributed to this decrease.

Alexandra Dambeck, CFO of Springer Nature, said: “We are pleased with our business and financial performance in 2024, which reflects our strategic focus on high-growth areas and operational efficiency. Our strong free cash flow and reduced financial leverage position us well for future growth and continued investment in innovation for our communities.”

On the basis of Springer Nature’s underlying performance in 2024 and updated foreign currency rates, revenue for 2025 is expected in the range of €1,885 million to €1,935 million[2] and the adjusted operating profit margin at least at the level of 2024. This reflects Springer Nature’s assessment of the positive dynamics in the market as well as the continuous investment in future growth. Springer Nature’s mid-term outlook remains unchanged.

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