France: Springer Nature Accepts Rate Decrease for Purchase of its Journals, Prior to Any Agreement with Couperin.org Consortium

Note: Original News Release (in French)
Below is from a mechanically translated version of the announcement via Google Translate.
From Couperin :

After 21 months of negotiations, the consortium Couperin.org and publisher Springer Nature have reached an agreement. Negotiators of the consortium were mandated to obtain an offer that takes into account the expenses of APC carried out by institutions in order to get out of the dual payment mechanism that characterizes hybrid journals. In addition, the international growth of articles published in open access with the payment of publication fees also justified a request for lower tariffs.
Over the last few months, the member institutions of the consortium have been regularly consulted and have overwhelmingly rejected the publisher’s successive proposals that did not fit sufficiently in a perspective of falling tariffs. Springer Nature wanted to maintain open access to journals throughout the negotiation and sought common ground.
The last offer of the publisher, formalized at the end of September, covers a content of 1121 journals, a slightly lower scope than the previous agreement, titles that were not significant for French research were removed from the collection. Ownership of all titles for all members as well as the transfer of content to the national platform PANIST is renewed The agreement therefore relates to a long-term acquisition of content, although the term used is usually that of subscription. The tariff evolution has several options, all characterized by a fall in tariffs: an option with a decrease of 6.5% in 2018 followed by an increase of 0.5% and 0.75% in 2019 and 2020 and an option with a continuous decline over 3 years of 2.5%, 3% and 3.5%. Specific arrangements have been made for establishments that will not renew their subscription until 2019.
The 3-year agreement will ultimately result in a 5.33% decrease in rates for Option 1 and an 8.74% reduction in Option 2, a decrease compared to an Constant cost over the three years is 5.95% and 5.55% respectively for options 1 and 2.
As with all negotiated resources, member institutions of the consortium are free to accept one of the options or not to renew their subscription. As of October 10, nearly 80 establishments renew their subscription by choosing one of the proposed formulas, a dozen decided not to renew and a thirty has not yet decided final choice.
This agreement inaugurates an era of decreasing costs and is a step, which should be accompanied by a reflection between higher education and research institutions on the one hand and between the consortium and the publisher on the other, to build models for the dissemination of scientific information that take into account both the imperatives of open science and the willingness of institutions to pay for the acquisition of content produced by researchers and marketed by publishers. The editorial services, which are real, must be proposed at their fair value. The resources saved through cost reduction or churning should be, in whole or in part, depending on the choice of institutions, reinvested in the development of open science tools, including the national open science fund announced by Minister Frédérique Vidal. 4th July.

See Also: Another mechanical translation of the Couperin.org announcement via Microsoft Translator.

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