FinELib, the Finnish Electronic Library consortium, is set to conclude seven of its current journal agreements by the close of 2023. While negotiations are underway for new agreements, the certainty of reaching them remains uncertain.
Should new agreements not be finalized by year-end, the open publication of articles within the existing FinELib agreements with the following publishers will cease on December 31, 2023:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Elsevier (ScienceDirect Freedom journals)
- Emerald
- Oxford University Press
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
- Springer Nature (Springer Compact journals)
FinELib is actively engaged in negotiations with these publishers, and discussions with IEEE are ongoing, although the open publication article quota for this agreement has already been exhausted earlier this year.
For authors intending to publish articles in journals affiliated with the mentioned publishers, the course of action depends on the acceptance date of the article.
Articles accepted in 2023 can be published open access under the current FinELib agreement. However, for articles accepted in 2024, coverage under the existing agreement may not apply. Negotiations for new agreements may extend into 2024, with FinELib aiming to retrospectively enable open access publication for articles accepted early in the year if an agreement is reached later. This, however, is contingent on negotiation outcomes and not guaranteed.
In the event that a new agreement is likely, FinELib will provide publishers' guidelines for authors whose articles are accepted in early 2024 during December/January.
There is also the possibility that new agreements may not be reached with some publishers. In such cases, open access publication under the FinELib agreement concludes on December 31, 2023. From 2024 onwards, authors have the option to publish behind a paywall, self-archive by placing a copy in a repository, or personally cover the Article Processing Charges (APC). It is advisable to check whether institutions provide funding for APCs.
More: https://finelib.fi/open-
