Self-archiving (green open access)

Where articles are published via the subscription route, authors are permitted to self-archive the accepted manuscript (the version post-peer review, but prior to copy-editing and typesetting) on their own personal website and/or in their funder or institutional repositories, for public release after an embargo period of 12 months after first publication.

Learn more about self-archiving

Publishing open access (gold open access)

Upon acceptance, authors can indicate whether they wish to pay an optional article processing charge (APC) for their article to be made open access online immediately upon publication. By paying this charge authors are also permitted to post the final, published PDF of their article on a website, institutional repository or other free public server, immediately on publication.

Open access articles are published under a CC BY license (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). Under Creative Commons, authors retain copyright in their articles. The CC BY license allows for maximum dissemination and re-use of open access materials and is preferred by many research funding bodies. Under this license, users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit) and remix (adapt) the contribution including for commercial purposes, providing they attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor (read full legal code). All Springer Nature journals with an open access option offer intergovernmental organisation (IGO) versions of Creative Commons licenses on request, where required by the author’s employer.

Visit our open research site for more information about Creative Commons licensing.

Once an article has been accepted for publication, and the corresponding author has confirmed relevant affiliations, authors who choose to publish open access must:

  • Determine whether an article processing charge (APC) is covered by an agreement with their institution.
    • Accepted articles are checked for eligibility under our institutional open access agreements based on the institutional affiliation of the corresponding author. Some articles are eligible for partial or full coverage of the APC as part of an institutional agreement with Springer Nature.
    • In the event that an author is not eligible under an institutional open access agreement, they may still select the OA option and arrange for APC processing through direct payment or through a variety of funding options.
  • Sign the appropriate publishing agreement.
    • Depending on the ownership of the journal and its policies, authors will either grant the Publisher an exclusive license to publish the article or will be asked to transfer copyright of the article to the Publisher. A copy of the agreement is automatically sent to the author via email.
  • Arrange payment for associated publication costs.

Article proofs will only be sent to authors once they've completed these guided checkpoints.

With regard to payment, please note that usual credit terms are 30 days from receipt of invoice. Failure to pay your invoice within the stated credit term may result in the Open Access status of the paper being rescinded, with the paper being placed behind the paywall. You may also be subject to such penalties as restrictions on your ability to publish with Palgrave Macmillan in the future, involvement of a third party debt collection agency and legal proceedings.

Open Access for Palgrave Authors

Compliance with open access mandates

Palgrave Macmillan's publishing policies ensure that authors can comply with the public access requirements of many major funding bodies worldwide. Authors may need to take specific actions to achieve compliance with funder and institutional open access mandates. If your research is supported by a funder that requires immediate open access (e.g. according to Plan S principles) then you should select the gold OA route, and we will direct you to the compliant route where possible. For authors selecting the subscription publication route, the journal's standard licensing terms will need to be accepted, including self-archiving policies. Those licensing terms will supersede any other terms that the author or any third party may assert apply to any version of the manuscript.