Open access in action—Stories from around the world: Hospices Civils de Lyon, France

Author: Jovial Toh

Welcome to a new blog series, where researchers take the spotlight to share their experiences publishing open access (OA). Why did they choose to publish their work OA? How did they cover article processing charges (APCs)? What was the impact of their OA publication? Hear directly from authors who’ve done it, and gain practical insights from their journeys.

In today’s blog, we are joined by a clinician-researcher from Hospices Civils de Lyon, France, who published an OA article in the journal Intensive Care Medicine last year. We heard from them about choosing to publish OA and the process of publishing under Springer’s transformative agreement (TA) with the Couperin Consortium in France, which covered the cost of publishing the article OA.

TAs are a type of OA agreement, which enable researchers in participating institutions to publish OA with fees covered in journals included in the agreement. 

Welcome to the series! Can you introduce yourself and share a bit about your background? 

I am a medical intensivist, with a background in nephrology, currently working at Hospices Civils de Lyon, France. My research interests are acute respiratory distress syndrome and ventilator-induced lung injuries, as well as advanced hemodynamics in the management of fluid removal and fluid balance management. 

In 2024, you published an article on fluid removal strategy. Why did you choose to publish it gold OA, making it immediately freely available to all? 

We had the opportunity to publish the results of a randomised controlled trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of a fluid removal strategy guided by advanced hemodynamic monitoring in patients undergoing renal replacement therapy. Publishing our results as an OA article in the journal Intensive Care Medicine was a wonderful achievement as it is the most recognised journal in our field, and benefits from a very large readership. With gold OA, our results may gain greater visibility, allowing others to discuss, criticise, reproduce, or comment on our data.  

This was my first RCT (randomised controlled trial) published in a first-rank journal. I can already say that most of my colleagues that I have encountered over the last few months have read it and returned comments about it. I believe that publishing this article OA might have helped the paper to reach a greater audience more rapidly. 

Hospices Civils de Lyon is a participating institution of the France Couperin OA agreement with Springer Nature. How did you become aware of this agreement, and what has been your experience publishing under it? 

My institution communicated to all its members about the agreement. Publishing under the agreement was easy and fast, and it clearly facilitated OA publication. 

Do you think OA options and benefits are well understood in your discipline? What are the specific barriers or challenges to OA publishing in your field? 

I believe most medical researchers clearly understand the benefits of OA publications. The main limitation to it is, in my sense, that it usually implies higher APCs, which is always an issue when funding and resources are scarce. However, there are many institutions which offers financial support for publishing gold OA through an OA agreement and the France Couperin agreement is a good example.  

How would you define the societal impact of research, and how is publishing OA related to it?  

Research is one of the key activities for human progress, and in my field, it is a never-ending process aiming to improve patient care. As I see it, researchers exist for society, they work for society. Considering the support they receive from society, research and clinical institutions, scientific societies, and patient associations, researchers have the obligation to share their results with transparency, with the important role of peer-reviewing being key in ensuring the highest degree of quality. OA clearly lies in this line of thought, by allowing access to all.  

To any researcher considering publishing their work OA I would say: If you have the opportunity and possibility to do it, go for it! 

Springer Nature’s OA agreement for Couperin Consortium in France

The Couperin agreement enables authors affiliated with a participating French institution to publish OA in over 2,200 Springer, Palgrave, and Adis journals with fees covered. Researchers in participating institutions also enjoy full access to all Springer, Adis, and Palgrave subscription journal content.  

Since the Couperin agreement came into effect mid- 2024, OA uptake in France nearly doubled as compared with the years prior, across various disciplines: 

OA agreements, like the Couperin agreement, offer eligible authors the most straightforward and accessible route to publish OA with fees covered, and to enjoy the benefits of making their work available to anyone, anywhere.  

Learn more about APCs and how you can identify your eligibility for financial support to publish your work OA. You can also visit our new OA agreements pages to find out whether your institution is part of a Springer Nature OA agreement.

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