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Open access agreements and the library

Open access (OA) agreements with Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nature are more than reading and publishing. We work with institutions of all sizes and their researchers to maximise impact through increased visibility and usage of research.

Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nature is here to help you — the library community — with your transition to OA. As everyone's journey is unique, below you will find some of the ways in which Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nature can support you.

What is an open access agreement?

An OA agreement with Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nature is an end-to-end service to help you and your researchers drive more impact for your institution through accessible, high-quality research output.

OA agreements play a vital role in driving the transition to OA at scale. Research shows that articles published gold OA achieve 6 times more downloads than non-OA articles, as well as 1.6 times more citations and 4.9 times more Altmetric attention. And Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nature’s TAs published 3 times more gold OA articles in Â鶹ֱ²¥ hybrid titles than via authors choosing OA but not being part of a TA.

Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nature offers different types of OA agreements. These agreements cover hybrid and fully OA portfolios but the key focus of all these agreements is the coverage of publishing fees for authors from participating institutions.

Types of OA agreement:

Transformative agreements

  • Transformative agreements (TAs) enable institutions to combine subscription (reading) access along with OA publication fees in hybrid journals into a single licensing agreement.
  1. Â鶹ֱ²¥ TAs: cover OA publishing in more than 2,000 hybrid Journals plus access to the Â鶹ֱ²¥ hybrid and subscription. journal portfolio
  2. Nature TAs: cover OA publication and reading access in the Nature Portfolio hybrid journals. 

Fully OA agreements 

  • These are publishing-only agreements for fully OA journals across the BMC, Â鶹ֱ²¥, Palgrave Macmillan and Nature Research portfolios.  
  • Find out more about fully OA agreements, including the journals and institutions covered within each agreement.
  • In addition, over 500 institutions are part of Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nature’s membership program. Memberships provide authors with discounted article processing charges (APCs) for and fully OA journals.

OA book agreements

  • These are publishing-only agreements covering the OA book publishing charges (BPCs), sponsored by either a funding body (e.g. society), consortium, or institution. 
  • Find out more about OA book agreements.

These agreements support researchers from over 3,500 institutions globally and help to deliver equity for OA publishing across academic disciplines, particularly for the Humanities and Social Sciences, where funding for OA publishing can be limited.


In some cases, authors may need to consult with their funder about requirements they must meet to comply with that funder’s mandates (specific publishing licences, for example). You can find out more on our support pages.

Discover the advantages of an OA agreement

With an OA agreement, librarians can:

  • Centralise payments and reduce administration
  • Ensure an easy, best in class OA workflow with automated, efficient, and reliable author identification and reporting
  • Provide a more streamlined, convenient OA publishing process for your authors
  • Maximise the visibility, reach and impact of your researchers’ work, reflecting positively on your institution
  • Ensure that all authors comply with funding regulations requiring research to be made immediately OA upon publication (for example, with a Plan S funder’s grant).

Case studies: proven results and insights

Accelerating open access at scale: A look at three transformative agreements

This case study explores how transformative agreements (TAs) are enabling a global shift towards OA. It looks in detail at three TAs in the United States, South Africa and Slovenia and highlights how these agreements support and benefit institutions, their researchers and the wider academic community.

Three US organizations reflect on their transition to OA

In this case study three US organizations reflect on their OA agreements with Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nature and provide insights into how this has helped them to transition to OA, the impact the agreements have had on their working practices as well as the advice they would give others looking to take the next step in their OA journey.

Creating new pathways: The Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nature and Jisc transformative agreement

This case study provides an overview of the impact and reach of the Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nature Jisc TA in the UK over a six-year period. It demonstrates the evolution of the UK TA to the end of 2021, discussing the benefits to institutions, authors and funders, and how TAs enable a sustainable transition to an open research future.