Springer Nature Transformative Journals Report 2021

In 2021 Springer Nature’s Transformative Journals (TJs) published 40% more gold open access (OA) research articles than in 2020. These articles were used on average 2.8 times more than subscription articles in the same journals, demonstrating the value to authors of publishing OA. 

730 journals met cOAlition S targets - more titles than all other publishers combined. We are very proud of these results and look forward to building on them in 2022.

Springer Nature’s journals which did not meet the required TJ metrics in 2021 have been granted an exception for 12 months, and therefore authors submitting to any of Springer Nature's TJs remain eligible for article processing charge (APC) funding from Plan S funders where this is available.

Key findings

  • More Springer Nature journals met the TJ targets than those submitted by all other publishers combined—730 versus a maximum total of 608
  • Our list of TJs represents titles across all imprints, publishing research in all disciplines 
  • Across all our TJs we published 40% more OA research articles in 2021 than in 2020 (compared to a growth of 8.4% for subscription research articles in the same titles)
  • These articles were used on average 2.8 times* more than subscription articles in the same journals demonstrating the value of publishing OA 
  • This has in part been made possible by our focus on securing new Transformative Agreements around the world, and clearly promoting the benefits of gold OA to all authors
  • 24 journals in the Nature Portfolio, all newly on their path to OA, also met the tough targets set, with the Nature Portfolio TJs overall seeing over 8 percentage point growth in the proportion of OA research articles published in 2021.

*2021 usage of 2021 papers.

Link to report