Cambridge transformative journals see 70% leap in research published OA

The amount of new research published open access (OA) in Cambridge’s transformative journals (TJs) leaped by almost 70 per cent in 2021.

Cambridge University Press revealed the figure in an update to the cOAlition S group of funders on the progress of its TJ programme.

The update also shows that the programme exceeded its open access growth target for the year, playing an important role in Cambridge’s plans to transform the vast majority of the research publishing in its journals to OA by 2025.

Overall, the proportion of research articles published Gold OA in Cambridge journals increased to 36 per cent last year – a 47 per cent increase on 2020. The publisher expects that to have reached 50 per cent by the end of this year.

Mandy Hill, managing director of Cambridge University Press, said: 'We are very proud of the progress we have made with our Transformative Journals programme over the last year and with the overall increase in the amount of research we are publishing open access.

'We are building an open future, unlocking the potential of research through the greater collaboration, transparency and accessibility that open access brings.'

The update clearly shows the impact of publishing open access, with OA articles getting about 1.6 times more citations and about 3.5 times more full text views on Cambridge’s publishing platform, Cambridge Core.

Uptake of Gold OA in Cambridge journals has also been driven by the increasing number of transformative agreements the publisher has reached with higher education and research institutions around the world, repurposing their existing subscription spend to provide opportunities for their researchers to publish OA. As more and more authors become eligible for Gold OA under such agreements, so more journals will be able to increase the number of articles they publish OA.

While not all journals in the TJ programme met their individual targets last year, these have been granted an exception by cOAlition S, meaning authors can continue to publish with those journals in compliance with Plan S requirements.

Hill said: 'We will continue to be a strong voice for the benefits of open; to register new TJs as quickly as we are able and look forward to making it possible for every author to publish their research as open access.'