Skip to main content Skip to main menu Skip to section menu

Read and Publish: Springer Compact

This guide covers the deals the library has with various journal publishers, and how to use those deals to read or publish articles without paying fees.

BCU Library has a Read & Publish deal with Springer until 31st December 2025.

If you have questions about what happens after this date, please see the Approaching the End of the Deal section, or the Next Gen OA Updates page.

This deal covers the fees for the following:

  • Read access to Springer and Palgrave Macmillan (but not Nature) journals
  • Publishing articles Gold Open Access in Springer and Palgrave Macmillan Open Choice (hybrid) journals.

There are some restrictions on eligibility so please see below for further details.

Criteria and Restrictions

Author eligibility

  • You must be the corresponding author
  • You must declare your affiliation with BCU
  • This deal is open to both staff and students

Article eligibility

Eligible article types include:

  • Original papers
  • Review papers
  • Brief communications
  • Continuing education

 

The following article types are not covered:

  • Book reviews

Journal eligibility

Eligible journals are:

  • Hybrid journals only. Springer calls these 'Open Choice' journals. These are journals that charge a subscription fee, but publish some Open Access articles.
  • Published under the Springer or Palgrave Macmillan imprints.

The following journals are not covered:

  • Fully Open Access journals. These are journals that don't charge a subscription fee, and publish all articles Open Access.
  • Any published under the Nature, SpringerOpen or BioMedCentral imprints.

 

 

Eligible Springer Journals (Excel file )

How to Access

  • When you submit your article, you need to list BCU as your first affiliation.
  • It is easiest for the Library to confirm your affiliation if you use your BCU email address.
  • Once your article is accepted, you will get an email inviting you to complete the publishing process.
  • You should get a confirmation that your fees are covered by the agreement.

More Information

Springer has several resources to help you navigate this agreement:

They also have some more general pages on Open Access publishing:

 

Approaching the End of the Deal

This deal ends on 31st December 2025:

  • Jisc (representing the UK higher education sector) are currently negotiating with Springer for a deal covering 2026 onwards.
  • As of October 2025, negotiations are ongoing.
  • This is a national negotiation and any outcome will depend on how the whole sector votes, not just BCU.

What this means for you right now:

  • Articles only come to the Library dashboard for funding approval after they have been accepted by the journal editors. We recommend submitting your articles early enough for an acceptance date before 31st December.
  • The library may not be able to approve funding for articles accepted after this date, depending on how the sector votes.
  • If your article is accepted in a hybrid journal after this date, it can still be published for free behind a paywall.

Please be aware of this upcoming deadline and check review timeframes when using this deal in 2025. We will keep the Next Gen OA page updated with the latest developments.

Was this page useful?