Springer Nature x ResearchGate – the What, Why and How of the syndication

  X

Recently, Springer Nature and Research Gate have announced a pilot to “deliver seamless discovery and an enhanced reading experience” through a syndication of selected Springer Nature journal articles to corresponding authors’ profiles on ResearchGate. The initial three-month pilot will see version-of-record copies of approximately 6,000 full-text articles published in 23 Nature journals from November 2017 onward – all of which are subscription-only with no article-level APC option – uploaded to ResearchGate, publicly available without any access control throughout the pilot period (authors can still remove them from their profiles if they wish).

What this means for both parties?

In an article for The Scholarly Kitchen, Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe analysed the rationale and implications of this strategic collaboration between the well-established publisher and the academic social network currently facing lawsuits by other major publishers. At a time when the publishing industry is experiencing major challenges from pirated research content platforms (i.e.: Sci-Hub) and the pressure for Open Access publishing, this “radically open approach”, Hinchliffe wrote, can have significant implications for the rest of the big players in the multi-million industry.

For ResearchGate, this adds to their legitimation efforts, in addition to the driven engagement and interaction to the website. The pilot will also include a heavy load of data and feedback gathering from authors and readers to assess their perception and experiences.

The pilot is planned for 3 months (starting March 2019), with extension to be confirmed after assessment. Read the full article analysing this strategic move on The Scholarly Kitchen website.