¹ú²úÂÒÂ×

Publication policies

Open access policies for books

On this page you can find out about ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×’s open access (OA) policies for books and chapters published via the immediate ‘gold’ OA and non-open access routes. 

Click here for our OA policies for journal articles.

For information about meeting the OA policies of funders and institutions when publishing with ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×, visit our OA funding support service.

OA licensing and copyright

Open access licensing

All open access books and chapters published by SpringerOpen and Palgrave Macmillan are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material.

¹ú²úÂÒÂ× OA books and chapters are published under a CC BY licence (Creative Commons Attribution v4.0 International Licence) by default. The CC BY licence is the most open licence available and considered the industry 'gold standard' for open access; it is also preferred by many funders. This licence allows readers to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to alter, transform, or build upon the material, including for commercial use, providing the original author is credited.

Other Creative Commons licences are available on request: please contact your editor to discuss this. However, before requesting an alternative licence you are advised to check your funder's requirements, to ensure compliance. 

Intergovernmental organisation (IGO) versions of Creative Commons licences for books and chapters are available on request where required by the author’s employer.

Retrospective licence changes

Authors of open access books and chapters at Springer or Palgrave Macmillan may not change the Creative Commons licence of their work after publication.

Copyright of OA books and chapters

Authors retain copyright of all open access books or chapters published by ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× under a Creative Commons licence.

Use of third-party material in open access books and chapters

Authors retain copyright of all open access books or chapters published by ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× under a Creative Commons licence.

Authors considering publishing their books or chapters via the immediate open access route should carefully consider whether they need to include any third-party material in their manuscript. Third-party material is only acceptable in an open access book or chapter if you:

  • have discussed it with, and have the agreement of, your editorial contact to include it;
  • are able to secure the necessary terms to enable such content to be made available in an open access form (ideally the same Creative Commons licence under which the content will be made available, but at a minimum approval from the rightsholder to include the content in an open access book).
  • provide clear captions for all third-party material clearly acknowledging the source and licence terms.

Please see our dedicated Third-party permissions page for additional guidance on third-party rights.

Self-archiving and manuscript deposition

Self-archiving of books and chapters published open access

Book and chapter authors who have published via the paid open access option are encouraged to deposit the final published PDF in their institutional repository or any suitable subject repository on publication.

Authors should include a link to the published book or chapter on ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× Link when they deposit the content in a repository; in all cases, the requirement to link to the publisher’s website is designed to protect the integrity and authenticity of the scientific record, with the online published version on the publisher’s website clearly identified as the definitive version of record.

Authors are advised to check their funders' deposition requirements to ensure compliance. Read our OA Policy FAQs to learn about how book and chapter authors can ensure they meet funder self-archiving requirements

Publisher deposition of books published open access

¹ú²úÂÒÂ× deposits the full text of all open access books and chapters in the  on behalf of the authors.  We also deposit all books and chapters funded by the Wellcome Trust in , and will submit other titles in relevant subject areas on request.

Self-archiving of books and chapters published non-open access

Our policies on self-archiving of books and chapters which have been published via the non-open access route can be found below.

Authors whose book or chapter is accepted for non-OA publication are permitted to self-archive a portion of the accepted manuscript (AM) on their own personal website, and/or in their funder or institutional repositories, for public release after an embargo period (see the table below). The AM is defined as the version of the work after the contract is signed, publication is approved, and final editorial and peer review (where applicable) is complete. The AM is not the Version of Record (VOR) and does not reflect post-acceptance and post-publication improvements on behalf of the Publisher, such as copyediting, typesetting, any amendments and corrections.

Accepted manuscript terms of use 

The amount of the AM, or AM chapter can be deposited after first online publication; subject to ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×’s AM terms of use and the criteria in the table below.

  

Deposition terms

      

       

      

Location 

      

     

Accepted manuscript

Embargo length after publication*

Version of MS that can be deposited

Amount of AM that can be deposited

Creative commons/ Open licence permitted?

Institutional or funder repository***

Author’s own personally maintained website

Commercial scholarly networks

Authored works

12 months

AM

Up to 10%

No

Yes

Yes

No

Edited works

12 months

AM

Author's own chapter**

No

Yes

Yes

No

Proceedings papers

12 months

AM

Author's own paper**

No

Yes

Yes (immediately on acceptance)

No

* Authors may make a closed deposit on acceptance, provided the embargo periods above are adhered to for public release.
** Each contributor to an edited work may archive up to one chapter per volume (provided they are the author or a co-author of such chapter). Please note that any linking, collection or aggregation of chapters from the same volume is strictly prohibited.
*** Excludes commercial scholarly sharing networks (e.g. ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Mendeley).
****Deposition of the amount of AM or AM chapter to author’s own personally maintained website is permitted immediately on acceptance for proceedings papers.

Where authors are not able to meet their funder or institution’s requirements for self-archiving by publishing via the non-OA route, they are advised to look into options for publishing open access before submitting, and indicating their requirements at the proposal/submission. Authors should check funding availability from their funders and institutions. Authors can speak to their Editors or ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×'s Funding Support Service for advice on meeting their funders’ and institutions’ OA policy requirements.

Preprints

In addition to the above policy, which applies to the accepted manuscript (AM), authors may deposit a portion of the preprint in a recognised preprint server such as arXiv, biorXiv, or RePEc. The preprint means the version of the author’s manuscript prior to acceptance for publication which has not undergone editorial and/or peer review on behalf of the Publisher (when applicable). Preprints must not be archived/deposited under a Creative Commons licence, such as a CC BY licence.  See the below table for details of the amount of work and location allowances for preprint deposition.

Preprint Deposition terms       Location  

    

Deposition time

Amount of preprint that can be deposited

Creative commons/Open licence permitted?

Author’s own personally maintained website

Legally compliant, non-commercial preprint server (e.g. arXiv, bioRxiv and RePEc)

Authored works

At any time

Up to 10%

No

Yes

Yes

Edited works

At any time

Author's own chapter*

No

Yes

Yes

Proceedings papers

At any time

Author's own paper*

No

Yes

Yes

* Please note that any linking, collection or aggregation of chapters from the same volume is strictly prohibited.

Other types of publication

- Books and chapters published under the Apress imprint and major reference works (MRWs) are not covered by this policy.

- For self-archiving policies applying to subscription journal articles please see our journal policy page.

- If you have any queries regarding this policy please contact us at oafundingpolicy@springernature.com.

Book and chapter processing charges

What is a Book or Chapter Processing Charge (BPC/CPC)?

A book or chapter processing charge (BPC/CPC) covers all the costs of commissioning, copyediting and proofreading, production, dissemination and promotion of our authors’ work, including online hosting and indexing. Authors can choose to pay a BPC/CPC in order for their book or chapter to be published open access under a Creative Commons licence.

BPC and CPC waivers for financial need

¹ú²úÂÒÂ× does not offer waivers or discounts for open access book or chapter processing charges (BPCs / CPCs). Our publication charges are set at a level to be sustainable, and as such we are unable to offer any fee reductions. Authors without access to funds to cover the open access publication charge are able to publish their title with Springer or Palgrave Macmillan using the traditional model.

Authors are also encouraged to speak to their funders and institutions to find out about funding availability for BPCs/CPCs. Find out more through our free OA funding support service.

Other OA policies

¹ú²úÂÒÂ× policies and compliance with funders' open access mandates

Few funders worldwide currently mandate open access for books and chapters. However, the policy landscape is changing rapidly, so authors are advised to check their funder's requirements. For advice about your funder's requirements please contact our OA Support Service at OAfundingpolicy@springernature.com.

Retrospective open access

Authors of open access books and chapters published by Springer and Palgrave Macmillan must indicate that they wish to publish open access before a title is published. It is not possible for authors to convert books to open access retrospectively (that is, after publication). However, in exceptional cases individual chapters may be converted to open access publication retrospectively where this is required for funder compliance.  Please contact ORSupport@springernature.com for advice on meeting their funders’ and institutions’ OA policy requirements.