Read & Publish Agreement with Sage ends on 31 Dec 2025
In brief
Contract negotiations between the Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries and the publisher Sage have not yet yielded any results. As the current agreement expires at the end of 2025, Switzerland will find itself in a no-deal situation with Sage from 01 January 2026 onwards.
What does this mean for the academic community in Switzerland?
Read access:
Articles published in Sage journals from January 1, 2026 onwards will no longer be accessible unless they are published in open access. Previously subscribed volumes of Sage journals will remain accessible.
Alternative access to articles in Sage journals:
No access via UZH? Your options
Request service (free of charge during the no-deal situation)
Publishing:
Authors can continue to publish with Sage journals, but the costs for Open Access publications will no longer be covered by UZH.
Do you publish in a hybrid journal?
If your chosen journal offers the option of open access, it is a hybrid journal.
- What can you do? You can publish without open access (“closed access”) and will not have to pay any APCs.
- Are you funded by the SNSF? If you have to meet SNSF requirements, you can instead republish your manuscript in the institutional repository ZORA. The SNSF does not pay APCs in hybrid journals.
How can I republish (secondary publication) in ZORA?
Do you publish in a gold open access journal?
If all articles in your journal are published in open access and open access is the only option, it is a gold open access journal.
- What can you do? The consortium and the University Library recommend that you do not pay any APCs to Sage, as this weakens Switzerland's position in contract negotiations. This also applies to APCs in gold open access journals. Instead, authors are encouraged to publish in other journals.
- Are you funded by the SNSF? In principle, the SNSF pays for publications in gold open access journals. However, the SNSF has decided (as in previous cases) to join the universities and the consortium and will not pay APCs to Sage journals until a new agreement has been signed.
How you can support the contract negotiations
In order to strengthen Switzerland's position in the publishing negotiations, the consortium recommends not paying APCs to SAGE journals and instead using other publication channels.
Questions?
Please contact the University Library if you have any questions about reading access or publishing:
Reading access: emedia@ub.uzh.ch
Open access publishing: oa@ub.uzh.ch
Further information:
News article from the University Library
Overview and FAQs from the consortium
Open Science Services