Sage agreement
Libraries and Museums has decided not to subscribe to the new Read and Publish agreement offered by Sage, and we are beginning discussions about access to key journals.
Instead of subscribing, our goal is to provide tailored access to the journals most used by our staff and students. Our intention with this tailored approach is that, when combined with our other services, access to Sage publications will be largely unaffected, protecting both teaching and research.
There may be some disruption whilst new access is arranged, and we appreciate your patience. We continue to support all our users, and we will be consulting with academic and research colleagues as discussions take place.
There is more information below. Please get in touch with any queries via library@st-andrews.ac.uk
What is a Read and Publish agreement?
The University has entered into a number of publishing agreements, often referred to as Read and Publish, that align with UKRI, Wellcome Trust and other funder Open Access requirements. These agreements aim to reduce and manage costs by combining subscriptions to read articles with options for Open Access (OA) publishing.
The previous Sage agreement included
- Sage journals online – full text journals across a range of subjects
- Open Access publishing for corresponding authors in Sage hybrid journals, along with a discount on Article Processing Charges (APCs) from Sage fully OA journals
Key publishers that we have ongoing Read and Publish agreements with include CUP, Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis and Wiley.
Why are we not subscribing to the new Sage agreement?
Libraries and Museums has a finite content budget and of course need to get the best value possible to support the University’s teaching and research needs. It is with this in mind that we have decided not to accept a new Read and Publish deal with Sage, and opt instead for a bespoke collection of the heaviest read titles.
Sage has been chosen specifically following the evaluation of different options based on key factors such as usage, cost per use, and publishing outputs. For example, since January 2024, Sage has the lowest read usage among the top 5 publishers; of the top 1000 titles read by staff and students at St Andrews, only 96 are Sage titles (with just 8 in the top 100).
Our post cancellation access with Sage (titles published during our paid subscription that we retain access to) is also particularly good. When combined with tailored purchases and OA content, as well as content sourced via our Inter-Library Loan service, our access to Sage publications will be almost unaffected.
Will I still be able to use Sage publications for teaching and research?
Yes. We already have access to 72.3% of Sage content without subscribing to the Read and Publish deal, due to previously arranged post cancellation access and Open Access content.
Input from academic and research colleagues continues to be vital in shaping our collections, and to ensure we supplement this content with the right titles, we intend to work with colleagues in all schools and departments to tailor the selection of Sage titles for purchase.
In addition, articles required for teaching and included on reading lists will be purchased or access obtained via copyright fee paid scans. Research materials continue to be available via our Inter-Library Loan (ILL) service , providing individual chapters and articles which usually arrive the same day as high quality scans, in an accessible format.
Can I still publish with SAGE?
Yes, it is up to you where you want to publish, but it is important to note that the OA Publishing portion of our agreement with Sage has now expired.
When publishing in one of Sage’s hybrid (subscription-based) journals, you can choose the subscription route and simply deposit your accepted manuscript in Pure. This is called the green route and it guarantees compliance with both our own open access policy, and OA requirements of various funding bodies (UKRI, REF, etc.). If you are publishing in one of Sage’s fully open access journals, there are also other funds, subject to availability and eligibility.
For further context, St Andrews publishing output in Sage journals is the lowest of the major publishers, with 27 articles in the past year having a St Andrews corresponding author, compared to Elsevier (90), Springer Nature (84), Taylor & Francis (81) and Wiley (132).
What’s next?
It’s important to note that this is an ongoing process, which has only just begun. We continue to negotiate with Sage, and we are committed to working with colleagues in schools and departments to ensure we are supporting our users as widely as possible.
There will be a grace period for the Read portion our current agreement, but what we purchase and subscribe to will be decided in collaboration with our academic and research colleagues, using all available tools, such as quantitative data on cost per use, publishing output statistics, mapping against expected titles for key schools, qualitative data from our Academic Liaison team, and so on.
We’ll be in touch soon to arrange meetings, and will provide other opportunities for you to share your thoughts and provide feedback. This webpage will be updated as more information becomes available, and we’ll also be in touch with your Library reps, as well as Directors of Research and Teaching.
You can always contact us via library@st-andrews.ac.uk with any queries.