Read & Publish agreement with Springer Nature: no-deal in 2026

As the ongoing Read & Publish agreement with Springer Nature is ending in December 2025, a round of negotiations on a new agreement for reading and open access publishing options started during the current year. Negotiations are led by the Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries (CSAL) on behalf of swissuniversities and of the Swiss higher education institutions.

So far, the negotiations with Springer Nature have not yet resulted in a mutually acceptable agreement. Therefore, as of January 2026 there will be a no-deal situation.

Meanwhile, the negotiations efforts will continue in the new year.

Recommendations

The no-deal situation will impact both reading and publishing in the entire portfolio of Springer Nature. The USI Libraries, in alignment with swissuniversities, recommend the following:

• Reading

Journal content published from 1 January 2026 onwards will not be accessible, except if available Open Access.

Perpetual access will be provided to content and years in which the subscription by the USI Libraries was active.

See the factsheet "How to get the Article" to retrieve non-accessible articles through alternative channels.

• Publishing - hybrid portfolio

Researchers will still be able to publish in hybrid journals without charges, but articles will not be made Open Access. USI will not pay Article Processing Charges (APC) for hybrid articles and strongly discourages researchers from paying APC for hybrid articles with their own funds.

To make a publication Open Access, we invite researchers to self-archive the accepted manuscript of the paper after the embargo period (6 to 12 months, depending on the journal) in the institutional repository SUSI.

• Publishing - Gold OA portfolio

Researchers can still publish in fully Open Access journals if they pay APC. USI will not pay APCs for Gold OA articles and discourages researchers from paying them with their own funds.

Researchers are encouraged to consider publishing their articles in journals with an existing agreement.

Further recommendations

• SNSF-related articles: the SNSF will stop paying APCs for Gold OA journals of Springer Nature.
• Swissuniversities invites researchers to use their position as editors of Springer Nature journals to advocate for the best possible agreement from the perspective of the Swiss academic community.
• Swissuniversities invites researchers to reconsider their activities as reviewers for Springer Nature journals until further notice.      

In the meantime, we invite you to contact us ([email protected]) as soon as you consider publishing in a Springer Nature journal to learn more about the existing alternatives.