IOPP signs OA agreement with Max Planck Society

IOP Publishing (IOPP) has established an unlimited, transformative open access (OA) agreement with the  Max Planck Society, taking what is describes as 'an important step forward in the transition of its journals to open access'.

The three-year agreement brings significant advances on their previous agreement as it lifts all limitations for Max Planck authors, enabling them to publish all of their articles accepted for publication in IOPP’s full portfolio of 18 fully OA journals and 56 hybrid OA titles openly, with no author-facing APCs. 

The  Max Planck Society is recognised as  Germany's leading research organisation, with more than 80 affiliated institutes, centres, and facilities around the world, conducting research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. Thanks to this agreement new research produced by the Society’s scientists, selected and peer reviewed in IOPP journals, will be freely and immediately accessible to scholars everywhere.  

For Max Planck authors, the new agreement makes it easier to publish open access, as the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) covers OA publishing fees centrally, omitting the need for authors to validate the availability of OA publishing funds. Additionally, the new agreement extends all previous reading rights to IOPP journal content.  

Julian Wilson, sales and marketing director at IOP Publishing, said: 'Continuing our valued partnership with the Max Plank Society supports our vision of making universal access to physics research a reality. We know that these agreements encourage greater uptake of OA publication. In fact, in 2021, 65 per cent of research from authors affiliated with the Max Planck Society was published OA with us. We now have transformative agreements with 242 institutions in 14 countries and see them as key to accelerating the open access transition. We will continue to proactively secure these agreements in an inclusive and equitable way.'   

Ralf Schimmer, head of information and deputy director of MPDL, said: 'IOPP is one of the 10 most relevant publishers for Max Planck scientists, in terms of where they choose to publish their articles. Through this new agreement, the Max Planck Society can provide authors with the opportunity to reach the broadest possible readership for their articles and fully implement its OA2020 strategy, repurposing former subscription fees to support open access publishing, thereby contributing to the broader open access transition in scholarly communication.'