What you need to know about publishing with SpringerOpen:
Editorial control
By choosing to publish a SpringerOpen journal, editorial control, including decisions on individual articles as well as on editorial policies regarding journal scope, peer review, and quality thresholds, lies entirely in the hands of the Editors. Springer’s role is as a service provider, making available the underlying technology and tools (an end-to-end system from submission to Editors’ decisions on acceptance/rejection); article production and deposition in repositories such as PubMed Central; collaboration with web-based services such as Crossref and with aggregators; through to journal development, marketing, customer services, and in-house support for Editors, reviewers, and authors.
Open access
Springer’s commitment to open access is based on the view that unhindered access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science. Springer’s open access policy means that all publications are freely and universally accessible online, authors retain copyright to their work, and all publications are deposited in various open access and digital archives. Articles published in SpringerOpen's journals are also included in/covered by PubMed and a range of other services.
Journal websites
SpringerOpen's journals are online publications. In cases where print is desired, for example where scientific societies wish to provide print editions for their members, solutions can be discussed. For instance, it may be suitable to produce an annual print edition made available for purchase on demand.
To provide consistency for users and to ensure maximum efficiency, our journal web sites are based on a template which offers various customization options. For examples of journal homepages, see:
Each journal has simple formatting instructions to make life simpler for authors, for instance, by allowing hassle-free transfer of manuscripts between journals (e.g. in cases where submissions are better accommodated within the scope of another journal).
License agreement
Authors who publish in a SpringerOpen journal retain copyright and allow for their article to be distributed under SpringerOpen's license agreement which is identical to the Creative Commons Attribution License. This enables anyone to disseminate and reproduce the article, as long as proper attribution of authorship is given and citation details are provided.
Funding open access – article-processing charges
Starting a new journal with or transferring an existing journal to SpringerOpen is entirely free of charge.
Under the open access publishing model, there are no access barriers such as subscription charges for users. Instead, there is an article-processing charge for each accepted article, typically paid by authors using funds from their institution or funding body.
A range of financial models are available to suit the needs of individual journals, their communities, Editors, and affiliated societies.
Publishing services
Editorial support
To ensure that our authors receive first-class services, SpringerOpen provides the Editors of journals with fast, reliable, and customized online tools for all stages from submission to publication. SpringerOpen has developed an end-to-end, fully integrated platform designed specifically for the purpose of online open access publishing. This offers an excellent submission system, coupled with online peer review, tracking and decision-making tools for Editors.
SpringerOpen provides Editors-in-Chief with efficient administrative and technical support. Each journal has a dedicated in-house Journal Development Editor to help Editors-in-Chief maximize the journal’s potential and to provide a central point of contact. To help external Editors monitor their journal’s performance and develop it further SpringerOpen provides a variety of reports, including:
- Submission and publication numbers
- Peer review statistics (for example: time to first decision, and acceptance/rejection rate information)
- Submissions breakdown by country
- Editorial Board reviews, submissions, and publications
- Author survey report statistics (for example: reasons to submit, author satisfaction)
- Total article access numbers
- Website access info (using Google analytics reports)
- Scopus report on article citations
See how we work with scientific societies.
Marketing
SpringerOpen has a highly effective Marketing department who work collaboratively with editorial colleagues to support all SpringerOpen’s journals. To achieve this, SpringerOpen promotes journals both online and offline through targeted email campaigns, conference attendance/sponsorship and extensive advocacy marketing.
Customer services
Our customer services offer front-line support to the entire network of website users. With an average 24-hour response, customer services provide guidance to all users whether publishing or searching our open access content.
For any enquiries regarding a new open access journal or transferring a journal to SpringerOpen, please contact: info@springeropen.com