The General Incorporated Association, Division of Plasma Physics,
Association of Asia-Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS-DPP Association Inc.)
Professor Mitsuru Kikuchi
1194-10, Motoyoshida, Mito, Ibaraki 310-0836,
Japan
September 28, 2020
Dear Professor Mitsuru Kikuchi,

Daisuke Nakajima
Publishing Editor, Journals
Mathematics, Physical & Applied Sciences
T +81 3 4533 8265
F +81 3 4533 8081
Daisuke.Nakajima@springernature.com

A lot has happened since my last letter to you in May on transformative journals (TJ). As you may
recall, a TJ offers authors a choice of publication via the immediate gold OA route or via thesubscription route, but unlike hybrid journals, which are usually agnostic towards these two routes, aTJ proactively promotes the benefits of OA to authors, and commits to increasing OA uptake andultimately transitioning to full OA for primary research articles. As we continue to transition our own
portfolio to OA, due in part to our pioneering transformative agreements (TA), which include yourJournal, I would like to bring you up to date on all of our latest related developments, including thetransition to TJs, as these have a positive impact on your journal.
As my last letter outlined, Springer Nature has been pioneering TAs since 2014, seeing them as a key
part in driving forward the sustainable transition to OA. Alongside our commitment to forging newroutes to OA through new journals, books or through the launch and introduction of TJs, we continue
to be committed to driving forward a sustainable and effective OA environment for all of our partners
and journals.
Springer Nature has established 11 TAs in total across Europe and Asia, including the largest OA
agreement by article output with Projekt DEAL in Germany. We have also signed the largest TA in
North America with the University of California which will deliver benefits for US funders, librarians
and researchers. These agreements make the administration of OA simpler for both the institutions
participating and their researchers. In addition, these agreements enable a wider group of researchers
to benefit from the enhanced discoverability, increased citation and increased usage of OA content,
and help to solve the problem that some academic disciplines lack OA funding (a centralized APC
allows any researcher from the participating institution, regardless of academic discipline to publishOA). In addition it also provides researchers with an easy way to comply with funders’ OA
requirements.
Data released in August shows that our 8 national TAs that were live in 2019 are now enabling an
increase in the number of authors publishing OA in those countries. Adding this to the fact that OA
content is cited more than subscription content, institutions covered by TAs are not only opening up
their research, but their authors are benefiting from greater usage and reach to their content. WhileTAs are certainly not a one size fits all approach and hold local complexities, the direction of travelwith their implementation is clear and, we believe, provides a sustainable path to a full OA
environment.
Due to our ongoing success in signing an increasing number of TAs, all the hybrid journals that
Springer Nature publishes are now automatically on the path to publish a growing fraction of OA
articles over the years to come. The benefits for your journal are that these agreements enable awider group of researchers to benefit from enhanced discoverability, increased citation and increased
usage and help to solve the problem that some academic disciplines lack OA funding.
So what’s next for us and you? As we communicated to you a few months back, our next step is tosubmit all journal titles publishing with Springer Nature under a hybrid model as TJs to the Plan S
project team. There is no need for you to sign up your journal individually. As your publishing partner
we will collate all the necessary information and we will add your journal to the list of TJs to ensurethat Plan S funded authors can continue to publish in your Journal and comply with Plan S
requirements for immediate OA by opting for the gold OA route.
While the OA-fraction growth targets and other Plan S criteria, such as the requirement for a journal
to flip to OA for all research articles when this content surpasses 75%, can be challenging, we areconfident that our TAs will allow us to meet this challenge. We expect individual journals to move andflip at different speeds--however, it may take years before your journal reaches this threshold. Yourpublishing editor will keep you apprised of the status of your journal and will work closely with you inmanaging the transition, whenever it occurs.
If after several years the OA fraction of your journal has not increased as expected, we will of course
discuss other options with you. But we would expect that such an evaluation will take place no sooner
than 3 years after we start measuring the OA fraction of primary research content systematically. At
this point, we can be safe in the knowledge that by registering our hybrid journals, including yourjournal, as TJs, we are enabling Plan S authors to meet the requirements of their funders and clearlysignalling the role that these journals are already playing in advancing progress in OA.
At the end of October, we plan to submit all Springer Nature published journals, including yours, tothe Plan S Project team as TJs. We would be grateful if you could please share this information among
your society. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact me no later than October 16.
Sincerely,

Dr. Daisuke Nakajima
Publishing Editor, Journals
Mathematics, Physical & Applied Sciences
Springer Nature

Dr. Elisabeth A.L. Mol
Vice President, Journals
Mathematics, Physical and Applied Sciences
Springer Nature