The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) has launched a new two-year Open Publishing Agreement (OPA) with Springer Nature, removing common barriers to open access publishing for hybrid journals*. As the publisher’s first unlimited and uncapped agreement of its kind in the Americas, it enables Northwestern researchers to publish openly in Springer’s hybrid journals with fewer administrative hurdles and no article processing charges from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2026.

This fifth and most comprehensive agreement from the BTAA allows authors at participating institutions to publish open access in Springer’s portfolio of hybrid journals without paying article processing charges (APCs) or worrying about publishing limits. It also grants full read access to the  Springer Hybrid portfolio, which includes over 2,200 titles across Springer, Palgrave Macmillan, and Adis imprints, as well as Academic Journals on nature.com.Please note that fully open access journals from the Nature group (such as Nature Communications) as well as hybrid or subscription Nature Portfolio journals (such as Nature, Nature Cancer, Nature Cardiovascular Research) are not included in this agreement.

If you're planning to publish in a Springer hybrid journal, your article can now be made open access automatically with no extra steps or payments required. The agreement allows you to retain rights to your work and ensures that published articles are immediately open and available under a Creative Commons license. 

• Access Springer Nature 
• Download and search the full list of Springer Nature hybrid journals from the Springer Nature website 

• Big Ten Academic Alliance. (2025, May 29). Big Ten Academic Alliance and Springer Nature announce first-ever unlimited open access publishing agreement in the Americas. 
• Springer Nature. (2025). Open access agreement for Big Ten Academic Alliance: Information for authors.