Expanding the global pool of knowledge
50% of our primary research is now published open access (OA)
We support authors from across 200+ countries to publish articles OA in all our 3,000+ journals, across all academic disciplines.
Our full OA portfolio includes the world’s largest full OA journal, Scientific Reports, the most highly cited OA journal, Nature Communications, and around 700 journals across six imprint brands.
Carrie Webster
Vice President, Open Access
“Our global OA transformation journey continued to gather strong momentum in 2024. Last year alone, 82% of OA articles in our hybrid journals were published via 66+ transformative agreements (TAs), supporting researchers from over 3,700 institutions worldwide. We saw 22 new TAs signed and six renewed, with the US seeing seven new agreements, including a TA with Lyrasis that covers 120 institutions, including eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In Japan our TA network expanded from ten to 60 universities in two years, enabling over 2,400 OA articles, and we signed our first TAs in France, South Korea and Hong Kong, as well as our first TA with a government department in India.
Sixty-eight new full OA journals were launched, with our full OA portfolio accounting for 73% of our OA primary research output in 2024. We also saw a 31% increase in OA articles published, with growth especially strong in India. Our Cureus portfolio introduced free OA publishing models broadening access, and we continued to grow our teams in China and India to support the growing global demand for OA publishing.
To accelerate the next phase of the transition to OA, we’re investing strongly in technology and AI, with a particular focus on protecting the integrity and trust of research. We remain committed to driving forward common standards, policies, systems, and tools to continue to ensure the research we publish is reliable, trustworthy and can be built on by scientists and innovators.
In 2025 and beyond we will continue to work with all our partners to enable this transition, ensure the quality of research published, and find solutions so that no researcher, no institution, and no country is left behind.”
21.1% average accept rate for full OA articles in 2024
Source: Springer Nature data.
21% increase in downloads of OA content in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)
Source: Counter 5:1.
Highest usage for authors publishing in our full OA journals, 6.3 citations, on average, per 2023 article (full OA)
Sources: Springer Nature data/ Counter 5:1/ Dimensions.
Strong growth in reach and impact for our OA books and journals
In 2024, our average accept rate for full OA articles was 21.1%, a 7.5% drop from the previous year. Over the last five years we have seen a steady decline in full OA acceptance rate, going from 29.5% in 2019 to 21.1% in 2024, demonstrating our continued focus on ensuring the publication of high-quality OA research.
Downloads of our OA book content increased by 31% (from 2023) with an average of 33,110 downloads per book in 2024.
We also saw an increase of 30% in downloads for journal content (from 2023), with 1.7billion+ downloads of OA journal content in 2024. Authors benefit from an average of 1,035 downloads per article in 2024, an increase of 12% in average downloads from the previous year.
Taken together this demonstrates the impact and value the work we publish has. We remain focused on working with our global partners to ensure we not only provide value for our authors when publishing OA with us, but also that we continue to grow responsibly and sustainably. Despite the growth in submissions, we continue to uphold the highest publishing standards and ensure that the research we publish is reliable and trustworthy.
21.1% average acceptance rate for full OA articles
31% increase in OA book downloads
1,035 average downloads per article
Source: Springer Nature data/Counter 5:1.
Authors publishing in our full OA journals continue to benefit from the highest impact
Authors publishing in Springer Nature’s full OA journals see their content being used more than that of other publishers. Authors benefit from the highest number of total citations with an average of 6.3 citations per article published in 2023. This is a 7% increase on average citations per full OA article published in 2022.
2024 also saw strong growth across our OA portfolio, including our hybrid journals, with a 9% increase in average citations per published OA article, going from 5.9 to 6.4 for articles published in 2023.
Top five publishers by full OA citations
| No. | Publisher | Average citations per article |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Springer Nature (incl. Cureus) |
6.3
|
| 2 | Mixed-model publisher |
6.2
|
| 3 | Mixed-model publisher |
5.4
|
| 4 | Pure OA publisher |
4.9
|
| 5 | Pure OA publisher |
4.6
|
Source: Dimensions.
We continue to ensure that OA is an option for all researchers globally
Downloads of our OA content in LMICs increased by 21%1 from the previous year with 182+ million downloads, and an increase of 14% from Lower Income Countries (LICs). Highest usage of content came from India (LMIC) with 97+million downloads and Ethiopia (LIC) with 4.7+ million downloads.
1As defined by the World Bank as of January 2025.
Downloads of OA content in LMICs published 2005-2023
| Sum of year | Number of downloads (millions) |
|---|---|
| 2019 |
46.3
|
| 2020 |
74.9
|
| 2021 |
125.6
|
| 2022 |
137.8
|
| 2023 |
151.2
|
| 2024 |
182.9
|
Source: Counter 5:1.
Downloads of OA content in LICs published 2005-2023
| Sum of year | Number of downloads (millions) |
|---|---|
| 2019 |
3.4
|
| 2020 |
5.0
|
| 2021 |
7.9
|
| 2022 |
9.7
|
| 2023 |
8.7
|
| 2024 |
9.9
|
Source: Counter 5:1.
We remain focused on finding a home for all research, supporting impact globally
Springer Nature’s journal portfolio continues to appear strongly across the Journal Citation Reports (JCRs) supporting all researchers with an outlet to publish their work. Our journals now rank in the top quarter of 199 unique categories, placing as the leading journal in 47 of them.
Over 2,500 Springer Nature titles are now indexed; 41 received their first impact factor (IF) in 2024, while for 53% their IF increased.
Collectively, our journals were cited over 16 million times in 2024, with our titles being the top three most cited in the world - Nature took the top spot (965k total citations), Nature Communications (911k) was 2nd, and Scientific Reports (835k) was 3rd.
16+ million citations in 2024
Source: Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports 2024
Open access at Springer Nature
Spotlight on TAs
Key lever driving sustainable, equitable OA transition for all.
Partnerships and collaboration
We are committed to working collaboratively with our community to ensure the OA transition aligns with needs.
What’s next in OA?
Committed to investing in tech and working collaboratively to eliminate barriers, driving forward an inclusive, reproducible, equitable transition to OA.
Spotlight on science communication
We are committed to ensuring the discoverability of our authors’ work, helping them reach new audiences.
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