Britt-Marie Wideberg, Manager of the EIFL Licensing Programme, analyzes the amount of research published in open access in 2025 by authors from EIFL partner countries to find out how EIFL-negotiated open access agreements are making a difference.  

The EIFL Licensing Programme has been negotiating open access agreements with publishers since 2016. These agreements include waived and discounted Article Processing Charges (APCs), as well as free and discounted read & publish terms, and aim to increase the amount of open access publishing output. By the end of 2025 EIFL had negotiated 15 open access agreements with publishers. 

These 15 agreements made it possible for corresponding authors in EIFL partner countries to publish in 2,927 hybrid or fully open access journals with waived or discounted APCs in 2025 ( 379 more journals than in 2024). Most of the agreements are for three-year periods, saving the time that would be needed for more frequent negotiations and contracts. The three-year periods also make it possible for authors to manage their publishing schedules and to select the right journal for publishing in open access. 

Articles published in open access

In 2025, authors from our 37 partner countries published 2,940 articles in open access in journals covered by EIFL agreements. The number is very slightly lower (by 18) than in 2024, when we counted 2,958 articles. In 2025, 91.7% of the articles were published in fully open access (gold) journals, with just 7.4% published in hybrid journals. The remaining 1% of the articles were published within other open access publishing models like Subscribe to Open and similar models. 

In 2024, we noted that some, not all, publishers wished to start charging APCs for articles by authors from countries that had previously received APC waivers, and this trend has continued into 2025. This is extremely problematic, as authors in EIFL partner countries simply cannot afford to pay APCs, which even at discounted rates can cost thousands of dollars. Nonetheless, there was a sufficient number of journals available on EIFL’s list for authors to publish free of charge and almost  87% of all articles published in 2025 had APC waivers.  

In 2025 authors saved approximately 6.3 million USD in APCs by publishing in journals included in EIFL’s agreements. 

In which journals are authors publishing?

Based on reports received from publishers, most authors published with the bigger publishers - Taylor & Francis, Sage and Oxford University Press. These publishers have big journal portfolios and cover many different subject areas, and so they attract more authors. However, publishing in open access with the smaller publishers where EIFL has agreements is also increasing.

In 2025 a total of 2,560 authors (5.4% more than in 2024) from 37 EIFL partner countries published in 527 journals of 14 publishers. The top five journals chosen covered medicine, food and agriculture, social sciences and humanities. 

Two new publishers, DeGruyter and Microbiology Society, began offering publishing in open access to authors in our partner countries from 2025. Authors picked up the offers and also published articles with these new publishers. 

More journals in 2026

Our new agreement with the Institute of Physics (negotiated in 2025) came into effect on 1 January 2026, bringing the total number of journals in which corresponding authors from EIFL partner countries can publish to 3,020 (93 more journals than in 2025).

The Institute of Physics is a non-for-profit publisher and the three-year agreement includes waived or discounted publishing in 65 hybrid journals. The agreement is available for authors from 30 EIFL partner countries. Publishing statistics from this new agreement will be available next year.

Helping authors to find suitable journals

In order to help authors to find where to publish, each year EIFL compiles country specific lists of journal titles with information about waivers and discounts. We communicate these lists to our partner national library consortia, who disseminate them among their academic and research communities. The lists can be searched by subject area.

EIFL also encourages publishers to offer webinars for authors about how to publish in their journals. Also, when negotiating agreements we always ask the publishers to allow for automatic recognition of authors’ eligibility for APC waivers when they submit their articles to make publishing as smooth as possible, and to encourage publishing in open access. 

We are open to talk to more publishers. Please get in touch - britt-marie.wideberg@eifl.net