Frontiers and the South African National Library and Information Consortium (SANLiC) have signed a national framework agreement designed to make open access publishing more accessible and affordable for researchers at participating South African institutions.
The agreement marks the first partnership between SANLiC and a fully open access publisher, building on the growing relationship between Frontiers and South Africa’s research community.
Under the arrangement, eligible universities, research councils and government research institutions will be able to publish across Frontiers’ full portfolio of journals without individual authors having to pay publication fees.
Instead, costs will be covered by participating institutions, with invoicing and payments managed centrally through SANLiC. The arrangement is intended to simplify administration and give institutions greater predictability when planning their open access publishing budgets.
Glenn Truran, SANLiC Director, said: “South African research output in Frontiers’ full open access journals has been growing. This agreement gives our members a practical way to support open access publishing with Frontiers while making costs more predictable and manageable. It is an important step in helping South African researchers share their work openly for the common good and take part in the global research community.”
The partnership is also intended to strengthen collaboration between Frontiers and South African university libraries, while increasing the international visibility and reach of research produced in the country.
Tom Thayer, Director of Institutional Partnerships at Frontiers, said: “We are delighted to partner with SANLiC and its member institutions to support and further strengthen the growing Frontiers’ research community in South Africa. Through closer collaboration with university libraries, this agreement creates new opportunities for researchers to publish open access, reducing barriers for authors and helping increase the visibility, reach, and impact of South African research worldwide.”
Institutions can sign up to the agreement until the end of 2026, with participation taking effect from 1 November 2026.
Source: www.researchinformation.info
