Britt-Marie Wideberg, Manager of the EIFL Licensing Programme, analyzes the amount of research published in open access in 2024 by authors from EIFL partner countries to find out how EIFL-negotiated open access agreements are making a difference.  

The EIFL Licensing Programme has been negotiating open access agreements with publishers since 2016. These agreements include waived and discounted Article Processing Charges (APCs), as well as free and discounted read & publish terms, and aim to increase the amount of open access publishing output. By the end of 2024 EIFL had negotiated 14 open access agreements with publishers. 

These 14 agreements made it possible for corresponding authors in EIFL partner countries to publish in 2,548 hybrid or fully open access journals with waived or discounted APCs in 2024. Most of the agreements are for three-year periods, saving the time that would be needed for more frequent negotiations and contracts. The three-year periods also make it possible for authors to manage their publishing schedules and to select the right journal for publishing in open access. 

Increase in articles published in open access

In 2024 there were 2,958 articles published in open access by authors from 35 EIFL partner countries, 69% more than in 2023. Most articles (92.9%) were published in fully open access (gold) journals, with just 7.1% published in hybrid journals. 

We experienced difficulties in negotiations, with some publishers wishing to start charging APCs for countries that were previously receiving APC waivers. This is problematic as authors in EIFL partner countries simply cannot afford to pay APCs, which even at discounted rates can cost thousands of dollars. 

In 2024 authors saved approximately 4.1 million USD in APCs - 60 % more than in 2023 - by taking part in the EIFL agreements.

In which journals are authors publishing?

According to the reports received from publishers, most authors published with the bigger publishers - Taylor & Francis, Sage and Oxford University Press. These publishers have big journal portfolios and cover many different subject areas. However, we have also noticed that publishing in open access with the other publishers where EIFL has agreements is steadily increasing.

In 2024 a total of  2,430 authors - 69.6% more than in 2023 - from 35 EIFL countries published in 430 journals of 12 publishers. The journals in which most articles were published were Cogent Food & Agriculture, Cogent Social Sciences, Cogent Business & Management and Cogent Education, all from the publisher Taylor & Francis.

2025 and onwards

In 2024, we negotiated two new agreements that came into effect on 1 January 2025, bringing the total number of open access agreements available to corresponding authors in EIFL partner countries to 15 and the total number of journals in which they can publish to 2,927 (379 more journals than in 2024).

The two new agreements are with the Microbiology Society and De Gruyter. The Microbiology Society is a non-for-profit publisher that publishes six journals. APC waivers for these journals are available for authors from 33 EIFL partner countries. This is a three-year agreement. De Gruyter is an independent academic publisher and the two-year agreement includes mostly discounted publishing in approximately 370 journals, with a small number of countries eligible for waivers. The agreement also allows authors from all of EIFL’s 37 partner countries to publish free of charge in over 50 De Gruyter journals that are included in the Subscribe to Open (S2O) model. 

Publishing statistics from these new agreements will be available next year.

Helping authors to find suitable journals

In order to help authors to find where to publish, each year EIFL compiles country specific lists of journal titles with information about waivers and discounts. We communicate these lists to our partner national library consortia, who disseminate them among their academic and research communities. The lists can be searched by subject area.

EIFL also encourages publishers to offer webinars for authors about how to publish in their journals. Also, when negotiating agreements we always ask the publishers to allow for automatic recognition of authors’ eligibility for APC waivers when they submit their articles to make publishing as smooth as possible, and to encourage publishing in open access. 

We are open to talk to more publishers. Please get in touch - britt-marie.wideberg@eifl.net