Springer Nature and the Egyptian Government agree landmark deal to drive forward open research
First Transformative Agreement for Egypt will see Egyptian research achieve greater global visibility and impact
London | Berlin | Heidelberg 14 December 2021
Springer Nature, The Science, Technology and Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB) have today agreed a landmark Transformative Agreement (TA), increasing the momentum across global economies of all sizes for open access (OA) publishing and the wider move to open science and research.
This agreement, the first TA for Egypt and the first deal of its type for the region[1] , is expected to see over 3000 OA articles a year published by Egyptian researchers with Springer Nature, increasing the reach and impact[2] of Egyptian research across all disciplines. The deal provides researchers with read access to research in over 2,400 Springer Nature journals and the option to publish in Springer Nature’s hybrid and fully OA journal portfolio. Accelerating the transition to OA in Egypt in this way will ensure the country’s high quality research is reusable, shareable and discoverable to the world's scholars immediately upon publication.
The deal is the latest development in Springer Nature’s longstanding partnership with the EKB. Springer Nature publishes 35 Egyptian journals on behalf of EKB and provides support to researchers via its Nature Research Academies, helping Egyptian researchers advance discovery.
Commented, Frank Vrancken Peeters, Chief Executive of Springer Nature:
“I am delighted that the Egyptian Knowledge Bank has chosen to partner with Springer Nature on their open science journey. Enabling all research to be published OA via agreements such as this is an integral part of advancing scientific discovery, increasing publishing options and reach for Egyptian researchers. This deal is testament not only to our strong partnerships and experience in delivering sustainable national transformative deals, but also to our commitment to finding achievable pathways, for all economies, to open science. We look forward to working with the EKB to deliver and advance this shared goal.”
The deal forms a pivotal part of the Egyptian Government’s wider 2030 strategy to drive forward educational development, sustainable OA and the enrichment of scientific content for Egyptian researchers.
Speaking on the agreement, Professor. Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, said:
“The last 18 months have shown us, more than ever, the need to provide and support immediate access to research and knowledge to help make new discoveries and make timely advances in medicine and climate knowledge. Springer Nature has shown real leadership in driving forward solutions to enable this - embracing the move towards greater open science. We share the same commitment.”
Commenting further Professor Tarek Shawki, Minister of Education and Technical Education and Head of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank said:
“ Enabling more Egyptian researchers to take advantage of access to world-class publications and the ability to sustainably publish their high quality research open access for global dissemination, is a significant step in our region’s journey of ensuring that all Egyptians, no matter what their economic circumstances, will have the tools they need to excel in their education and research.”
Professor. Walaa Sheta , CEO The Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) added:
“This agreement is a clear indication of our commitment to and investment in Egyptian researchers' academic future. We look forward to our extended collaboration with Springer Nature to help advance and spread the culture of knowledge and learning to better the world.”
Springer Nature signed its first TA in 2014 with the Netherlands and now has 14 national agreements in place including the world’s largest by article volume with Projekt DEAL in Germany. Evidence shows that countries with these agreements in place with Springer Nature see between 70% - 90% of their authors publishing OA. This agreement therefore represents a significant milestone in the global transition to full OA by putting Egypt firmly on the path.
Carolyn Honour, Chief Commercial Officer, Springer Nature further commented:
“While Transformative Agreements are complex and no two partnerships or regions are the same, we believe their role is clear in providing a sustainable path to a full OA environment. Individual partner needs and requirements have to be taken into account and therefore reaching such a deal has only been possible through the commitment and investment from the Egyptian Government.”
More on Springer Nature’s commitment to OA and open research can be found here.
More information on the agreement can be found here.
ENDS
[1] To be agreed at Government level.
[2] On average OA articles are downloaded 4x more than no-OA articles, have 1.6x more citations than non OA articles and attract 2.5x more altmetric attention- Transformative Journals | Open research | Springer Nature / . v6 (springernature.com)
What is a transformative agreement (TA)?
Definition: TA’s enable participating institutions to combine journal subscription (read) access along with open access (OA) publication costs (APCs). In addition to managing the cost and administration of OA, TA’s offer authors an easy way to comply with funders’ OA requirements.
Description: Under a transformative agreement subscription access and OA publishing are brought together into one reading and publishing contract across a consortium of institutions. This means that researchers in those institutions can publish under the “gold” open access model, while also gaining access to research in subscription journals. Spearheaded by Springer Nature with the first such agreement signed with the Association of Dutch Universities, VSNU, Netherlands in 2014, these agreements make the administration of OA simpler for both the institutions participating and their researchers. In addition, these agreements enable a wider group of researchers to benefit from the enhanced discoverability, increased citation and increased usage of OA content, help to solve the problem that some academic disciplines lack OA funding (a centralized APC allows any researcher from the participating institution, regardless of academic discipline, to publish OA), and also provide researchers with an easy way to comply with funders’ OA requirements.
For over 175 years Springer Nature has been advancing discovery by providing the best possible service to the whole research community. We help researchers uncover new ideas, make sure all the research we publish is significant, robust and stands up to objective scrutiny, that it reaches all relevant audiences in the best possible format, and can be discovered, accessed, used, re-used and shared. We support librarians and institutions with innovations in technology and data; and provide quality publishing support to societies.
As a research publisher, Springer Nature is home to trusted brands including Springer, Nature Portfolio, BMC, Palgrave Macmillan and Scientific American. For more information, please visit springernature.com and @SpringerNature
The Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB) is an initiative that has been launched by Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi during the National Science Day of 2014. Through it, the specialized councils of the presidency started to launch several national projects concerned with educational development.
As part of Egypt’s 2030 strategy, the Egyptian government aims to promote human resources through two main axes; education and health, so that Egypt becomes one of the top 30 countries in the quality of basic education indicator as well as bringing the illiteracy rate to the default zero, beside placing 10 Egyptian universities on the list of the top 500 universities in the world.
EKB grants all Egyptians among all ages access to the largest amount of knowledge, cultural and scientific content for all categories, including all the needed scientific content for students of basic education, university students and postgraduate studies. https://int.ekb.eg/
In 2006 the Egyptian Ministry for Scientific Research embarked on an ambitious exercise to overhaul Science and Technology (S&T) activities in Egypt. In the course of the year 2007, the outputs of that exercise were a complete restructuring of the S&T governance and management model in Egypt, in addition to the creation of the Higher Council for Science and Technology (HCST), and the Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority(STDF).
Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) has stimulated the Egyptian scientific society by funding distinguished research papers and establishing scientific partnerships with scientists from many advanced countries in order to keep track of quickly advancing technology, and be open to different societies, as well as, new economic unions, compete on the international arena, link scientific research to technological development and cooperate with civil society institutions to activate their role in the integrated scientific research system.
Thus, it is crucial to continue executing serious, ambitious plans and programs so as to boost the scientific research drive. This will be positively reflected on national economy and societal development.
STI system in Egypt comprises:
- Higher Council of Science and Technology (HCST)
- Ministry of Scientific Research (MOSR),
- Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT)
- Science and Technology Development Fund (STDF)
- Research Institutions and Universities
Katie Baker | Springer Nature | Head of Communications
katie.baker@springernature.com
