The 2024 maximum for free of charge open access publishing in Springer journals to be reached on the third week of October

Since 2015, corresponding authors affiliated with Dutch Universities, University Medical Centres and the KNAW institutes can publish Open Access in many Springer journals without costs. The number of free open access publications under this consortium deal is limited to 2,067 in 2024. For this year, we expect that this maximum number will be reached on the third week of October. Researches who want to stay informed about the status can sign in for an ‘notify-me service’. This service can also be used to receive updates about other publishers with a maximum amount of open access publications.

If your manuscript is accepted for publication between the time the maximum is reached and 1 January 2025, Springer will still offer open access publication, but the costs will no longer be covered by the consortium agreement during this period.

If you opt for open access against payment, you will therefore receive the invoice yourself. The amount involved will be between 2,500 and 3,500 euros, the so-called Article Processing Charge (APC).

You can also choose to share the article open access free of charge after an embargo period of 6 months. The article is then initially published by Springer behind the pay wall and shared open access in the institution's repository after 6 months in coordination with your library. The procedure for this differs per university and UMC. 

If you have any questions, please contact your university's open access contact.

They will be happy to help you.