Read and Publish: Springer Compact
This guide covers how academics can access journals the library subscribes to, and we support our researchers to publish gold open access papers in these journals.
BCU Library's subscription to the Springer Read & Publish Deal covers January 2023 to December 2025.
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
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.
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:
- Guide to Springer Open Choice journals
- 2023 blog post on publishing Open Access without paying fees
- Webpage on Open Access publishing options
Approaching the End of the Deal
This deal ends on 31st December 2025:
- UK university libraries and Jisc are currently exploring the possibilities after this point, but do not have a deal in place at present.
- Eligibility is determined by acceptance date, not submission date. We recommend submitting your articles early enough for an acceptance date before 31st December.
- Articles accepted in a hybrid journal after this date 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.