Transformative agreement is an umbrella term describing those agreements negotiated between institutions (libraries, national and regional consortia) and publishers to support access to published content as well as the ability of the institutions’ eligible authors to publish gold Open Access. These agreements “transform” traditional support for subscription publishing to support OA, and hence are termed transformative agreements. They are also often referred to as “read and publish” agreements, as they provide researchers the ability to both read and publish without any transaction cost for the researcher (i.e. eligible authors do not directly pay the [sc name=”tooltip” tooltip-title=”Article Publishing Charge (APC)” tooltip=”A fee to cover the cost of publishing an article and making it open access, within either a fully gold open access journal or hybrid journal, may be charged by a publisher. This fee may be paid by the author, the author’s institution, the research funder or any other sponsoring organisation.” ][/sc] in APC-supported journals).
The rapid growth of transformative agreements across the globe has in turn supported growth in the number of publications made OA. In 2023, transformative agreements supported the OA status of 302,311 publications which accounted for almost one quarter (22%) of gold OA output and 17% of all open access articles globally in 2023. It is observable that countries and regions with a high output of OA articles, such as the United Kingdom and Germany also make greater use of transformative agreements.
Gold represents those publications where the final published version of an article (Version of Record) is freely and permanently available online immediately on publication for anyone, anywhere to read. This includes articles in hybrid journals. See Methodology and Notes for more information.
Green represents those publications where a version of an article is publicly shared online, often as an Accepted Manuscript. To support a sustainable business model, publishers may maintain an embargo and/or may retain an Exclusive License to Publish. Articles, reviews and conference papers are counted as Green open access only if they are not also Gold. See Methodology and Notes for more information.
Bronze represents those publications that are made free-to-read on the publisher’s website, but are not identified as gold for one of the following reasons: access for a limited duration, an unclear license, or a license that is clear but is not a Creative Commons license. See Methodology and Notes for more information.
Subscription-only represents those publications that are available through individual or institutional subscriptions, individual purchases, or other programs (e.g. Research4Life) but not available through Open Access. See Methodology and Notes for more information.
Gold represents those publications where the final published version of an article (Version of Record) is freely and permanently available online immediately on publication for anyone, anywhere to read. This includes articles in hybrid journals. See Methodology and Notes for more information.
Green represents those publications where a version of an article is publicly shared online, often as an Accepted Manuscript. To support a sustainable business model, publishers may maintain an embargo and/or may retain an Exclusive License to Publish. Articles, reviews and conference papers are counted as Green open access only if they are not also Gold. See Methodology and Notes for more information.
Bronze represents those publications that are made free-to-read on the publisher’s website, but are not identified as gold for one of the following reasons: access for a limited duration, an unclear license, or a license that is clear but is not a Creative Commons license. See Methodology and Notes for more information.
Subscription-only represents those publications that are available through individual or institutional subscriptions, individual purchases, or other programs (e.g. Research4Life) but not available through Open Access. See Methodology and Notes for more information.
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