2015 - All Press Releases

Nature Publishing Group moves to CC BY 4.0 as default for open access journals


London, 26 January 2015

All 18 open access journals owned by Nature Publishing Group (NPG), and two society titles published by NPG, will use the Creative Commons Attribution license CC BY 4.0 as default from today. All future open access journals will also use CC BY 4.0 as default.

Carrie Calder, Director of Strategy for Open Research at Nature Publishing Group/Palgrave Macmillan said: “We’re committed to driving forward open access, and the CC BY license is widely considered to be the gold standard as it allows maximum reuse and discovery. All of the open access journals we own continue to be fully compliant with all existing funder mandates.

“We had some wonderful feedback from the community after announcing that the fully open access Nature Communications would use CC BY as default with one flat APC price towards the end of last year, and we have trialled this with other journals to gather feedback from different groups. We remain committed to author choice, and other licenses are available on request.”

Nature Communications has used CC BY as default since October 2014. The other titles included in this initiative are:

  • npj Primary Care and Respiratory Medicine
  • Scientific Reports
  • Scientific Data
  • Seven fully-OA academic journals: Blood Cancer Journal, Clinical & Translational Immunology, Cell Death & Disease, NPG Asia Materials, Nutrition & Diabetes, Oncogenesis and Translational Psychiatry
  • Ten recently announced forthcoming journals, including nine Nature Partner Journals and Cell Discovery.

(* society-owned title)

NPG will also move to charging a flat APC fee, regardless of license chosen. More information can be found in a blog from Carrie Calder here.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

For more information please contact:

Amy Bourke
Corporate Communications Manager
Nature Publishing Group/Palgrave Macmillan
E: amy.bourke@palgrave.com
T: 020 7843 4603 | M: +44 (0) 7703717212

About Nature Publishing Group (NPG)

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences.

Focusing on the needs of scientists, Nature (founded in 1869) is the leading weekly, international scientific journal. NPG publishes a range of Nature research journals and Nature Reviews journals, and a range of prestigious academic and partner journals including society-owned publications. Online, nature.com provides over 8 million visitors per month with access to NPG publications and services, including news and comment from Nature, and the leading scientific jobs board Naturejobs.

Scientific American is at the heart of NPG's consumer media division, meeting the needs of the general public. Founded in 1845, Scientific American is the oldest continuously published magazine in the US and the leading authoritative publication for science in the general media. Together with scientificamerican.com and 14 local language editions around the world it reaches over 5 million consumers and scientists. Other titles include Scientific American Mind and Spektrum der Wissenschaft in Germany.

Throughout all its businesses, NPG is dedicated to serving the scientific community and the wider scientifically interested general public. Part of Macmillan Science and Education, NPG is a global company with principal offices in London, New York and Tokyo, and offices in cities worldwide including Boston, San Francisco, Washington DC, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Dubai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Melbourne, Osaka, Seoul, Barcelona, Madrid, Basingstoke, Heidelberg, Munich and Paris. For more information, please go to www.nature.com.