To facilitate the sustainable shift to open access, many publishers have pursued Open Access Agreements. These agreements enable institutions and funders to centralise the costs of publishing open access – removing the payment burden from authors and making it easier for them to publish open access in their chosen journals and benefit from increased visibility and access to their published research. 

Since we know that many authors cite funding as a major barrier to choosing open access, these types of agreements have the potential to make open access possible at scale. There are now, according to industry data, over 1,000 Open Access Agreements in place spanning more than 70 countries and 60+ publishers. This means there are many thousands of researchers the world over who have potential access to this funding support for publishing open access – offering an increasing opportunity for more research to be globally available that anyone, anywhere, can read for free.

There are many thousands of researchers all over the world who have potential access to funding support for publishing open access through Open Access Agreements

However, we have heard from our publisher partners that there is a major challenge: effectively getting the word out to the researchers who can benefit from these agreements!

At ResearchGate, we deeply care about supporting researchers and publishers in making their research as accessible as possible and so we asked more than 2000 researchers globally about their awareness and understanding of Open Access Agreements, to better understand how we can help researchers to make the most of the opportunity to publish open access with funding support from their institution.

Almost half of all the researchers we spoke to (48%) were not at all familiar with Open Access Agreements, and only 8% felt that they were very familiar with them!

We asked those that said they had some kind of familiarity with Open Access Agreements if they’d ever used any such an agreement to cover open access fees – only 19% said they had! 

It appears even when researchers have an awareness that such agreements exist, they are not widely utilised. This led us to ask what the main reasons are that authors did not use an Open Access Agreement. The response was clear, in the majority of cases researchers struggle to know what support is available and how to access funds. 

So there is a clear need on the part of researchers to have better education on if Open Access Agreements are available, as well as when and how they can access this funding support.

We hear from our publisher partners that it is difficult to reach researchers based on their institution and ensure messaging is relevant to them in their publishing journey

At the same time we hear from publishers that their challenge in reaching the right researchers at the right time with messaging about funding support through Open Access Agreements comes down to three fundamental issues: targeting, costs, and data. 

There are very limited channels through which publishers can effectively reach individual researchers based on their institutional affiliations and role. When this is possible, it is largely only through one-time campaigns that are often very costly. There have historically been no options that allow journals to reach researchers based on their institutional affiliation and research area, while also providing always-on messaging that meets researchers at the right point in their publishing journey. 

That’s where Journal Home’s Open Access Agreement Upgrade (OAAU) comes in – providing a route to communicate to researchers about Open Access Agreements that is both useful for researchers and highly effective for publishers.

The OAAU enables publishers to:

Reach the right researchers covered by an Open Access Agreement

The OAAU makes sure only the right researchers are reached about Open Access Agreements that are relevant to them – based on their institution and areas of research.

Educate researchers through the journals they care about

‍By engaging researchers on ResearchGate with Open Access Agreement based on the journals they know and trust, this upgrade increases understanding and uptake by the right researchers.

Engage eligible researchers continuously across their publishing cycle

‍The OAAU enables continuous, personalised communication at the individual researcher level at the right point in their publishing journey. Whether they’re reading an article, visiting a journal profile, searching in their feed, or updating their own profile, publishers can help potential authors get the support to publish open access through an agreement.

Understand reach and engagement of agreements‍

Through OAAU’s unique reporting at the institution level, and utilising the flywheel mechanics of Journal Home, publishers are able to understand how much traction and interaction they are gaining with institutions covered by Open Access Agreements, from readership all the way through to authorship.

Many publishers have already activated the OAAU, including Wiley, Taylor & Francis, IOP Publishing, Sage Publications, BMJ, Optica, The Royal Society, Rockefeller University Press, Trans Tech and Royal Society of Chemistry. And since launching the upgrade, we’ve seen some fantastic results – within the first six months partners using the OAAU are continuously reaching researchers in more than 90% of the institutions covered by their agreements!

Within the first six months partners using the OAAU are continuously reaching researchers in more than 90% of the institutions covered by their agreements

This is a great indication that the OAAU has the capacity to supercharge uptake of open access through these agreements and help make sure that researchers across the globe are taking advantage of the opportunities they have to publish open access.

We're really looking forward to seeing how this upgrade will help more researchers take advantage of Open Access Agreements – opening up access to the world’s research is core to our mission at ResearchGate, and this service can really help publishers accelerate that journey!

To find out more about activating OAAU for your journals in Journal Home, please contact your ResearchGate representative.

To find out about joining the Journal Home program, please contact us using the form here.