Transformative Agreements, ESAC registry and Open Access Articles at University of Turku 2022-2023
FinELib, a consortium of Finnish universities, research institutes and public libraries, negotiates scientific journal agreements that include the right to read and publish in scientific journals without article processing charge (APC) or with a reduced APC. In recent years, Turku University Library has also begun to enter into similar agreements directly with publishers. Transformative agreements made by both FinELib and the library with academic publishers are stored in ESAC Registry.
The FinELib consortium, which operates at the National Library of Finland, has been negotiating science journal agreements with Open Access benefits for almost 10 years. The agreements include the right to read and publish in hundreds or even thousands of scientific journals. They allow the corresponding authors to publish articles open access either without APC or with a reduced APC. Universities and research institutes can enroll in these agreements according to their choice.
The agreements being negotiated are so-called transformative agreements, the purpose of which is to move from a business model based on subscription fees in scientific journals to a model based on open access publishing services. The aim is that the costs of the organisations should not rise from the current level.
What Is ESAC Registry?
Since 2018, the transformative agreements made by both FinELib and the library with scientific journal publishers have been stored in ESAC’s (Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges Initiative) ESAC Transformative Agreements Registry.
The ESAC registry, for its part, aims to curb price increases by increasing the transparency of agreements. This is facilitated by the fact that organisations around the world store agreement data in the registry, which makes it possible to compare agreement terms between different countries.
Contents of ESAC Registry
In addition to the publisher's name, the register contains key information such as the agreement period, whether there are restrictions on the number of Open Access articles, which CC licenses are allowed, and what are the agreement costs for reading and for publishing. It is also interesting whether the APCs for Full OA journals are included in the agreement. After all, the purpose of transformative agreements is for all the content of the publisher's subscription-paid journals and hybrid journals (journals where some articles have been paid open) to gradually become open, making the journal a Full OA journal. If Full OA journals are not included in the agreement, the publisher will charge their APCs separately and the total cost is likely to increase.
Open Access Articles in University of Turku 2022-2023
In 2022-2023, nearly 1200 scientific articles have been published without extra charge with transformative agreements at University of Turku. The share of direct agreements made by the library is about 40 articles. The table below show the number of Open Access articles published per publisher at no additional cost thanks to the agreements.
In addition, the library has made it possible for authors to publish about 35 Open Access articles in other ways, completely free of charge. APC discounts written in the agreements have helped authors publish more than 70 articles in Full OA journals of Sage (20% discount) and MDPI (10% discount) at lower costs.
Where can I find the APC benefits?
The library is constantly negotiating new open access agreements based on offers from publishers. Up-to-date agreement periods for agreements concluded by both FinELib and directly by the library, as well as the benefits of the agreements, can be found on the library's Open Access Publishing guide page’s subpage Discounts on Article Processing Charges. Questions related to open access publishing can be sent to openutu@utu.fi.