The Council of Australian University Librarians has reached an open access agreement with Sage

It follows terms being set with the other giants of scholarly publishing, John Wiley, Springer-Nature, Taylor & Francis and Elsevier.  And it is in addition to agreements with 20 or so other publishers (by the start of ’23) – including this week, with the International Water Association’s publishing arm.

While there are publisher-specific variations on cost and journals included in each, the overall CAUL objective is for research published by academics at member universities to be immediately open access on publication, with publishing charges absorbed in an all-journal subscription price with each publisher.

CAUL director Bob Gerrity (Monash U) explains the approach for CMM Expert Opinion  (ep 23) HERE.

With Sage signed, this is an all-over big deal, part of a worldwide acceptance by publishers that they cannot defy open access indefinitely.

But not big-enough for all. In Europe, where the big OA battles have long been fought, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities yesterday warned against “big deal” read and publish agreements with publishers, warning they “effectively consolidate and enhance their already dominant position in the field of scholarly publishing, solidifying their role as the gatekeepers of publicly funded research.”