Nature Publishing Group (NPG) and Creative Commons are pleased to announce an ongoing agreement to support the work of Creative Commons (CC). NPG today pledges an annual donation to CC. This will be equivalent to $20 for every article processing charge (APC) paid for publication in any of the 20 journals owned by NPG with an open access option, up to a maximum of $100,000 a year.

“It’s imperative that those who contribute true value in the communication of the results of research have their rights protected while promoting access as far as possible,” says Philip Campbell, Editor-in-Chief of Nature and Nature Publishing Group. “Creative Commons is a key contributor to that ethos, and I am delighted that we at Nature Publishing Group will be adding our support in this way.”

This builds on the announcement last week that NPG will make a donation to CC of $20 per APC for articles published in Scientific Reports, its newest open access publication. NPG has kick-started its wider support with a donation of $15,560 to CC’s current funding drive. This is equivalent to $20 per APC for all 778 open access papers published by NPG, from when it started offering open access publishing options to its authors in 2005, to the end of 2010.

“NPG is taking this step as part of our ongoing commitment to open access,” says Jason Wilde, Business Development Director at NPG. “We feel that it is important to support the legal framework behind open access, particularly given that we and many other publishers rely on the work of CC to license open access content.”

As of January 2011, NPG publishes 45 journals that have an open access option, or are entirely open access. Twenty are wholly owned by the publisher, and it is these journals that the CC agreement will apply to. For each APC paid on these journals, NPG will donate $20 to CC. NPG is currently in discussion with its academic and society partners, and with their agreement expects to expand the program to society-owned journals in the coming months.

“NPG’s commitment to making knowledge available to share and build upon is commendable all on its own – I’m thrilled that the company is taking the innovative next step of financially supporting Creative Commons’ work. CC’s tools make sharing easy and legal, and NPG’s support for what we do demonstrates that it is deeply dedicated to realizing the potential of open access.” commented Cathy Casserly, CEO, Creative Commons.

Authors of the research paper concerned will be eligible for complimentary membership of the CC network. Joining CC gives authors access to a network of other individuals who share a belief in the power of open systems to enhance innovation. Creating profiles on the CC network allows authors to expose their work to an international community of open access supporters and leading thinkers. To claim their membership, authors simply need to contact CC with the DOI of their article. This membership offer is retrospective, and open to all authors of every open access article published in NPG journals from 2005 to the end of 2010.

NPG now offers an open access option on 51% of its portfolio of 88 journals. In addition, NPG encourages self-archiving, in line with its license to publish, and offers a free manuscript deposition service to PubMed Central and UK PubMed Central on 43 titles.

About Nature Publishing Group (NPG):
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific and medical information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences and clinical medicine.

Focusing on the needs of scientists, Nature (founded in 1869) is the leading weekly, international scientific journal. In addition, for this audience, NPG publishes a range of Nature research journals and Nature Reviews journals, plus a range of prestigious academic journals including society-owned publications. Online, nature.com provides over 5 million visitors per month with access to NPG publications and online databases and services, including Nature News and NatureJobs plus access to Nature Network and Nature Education’s Scitable.com.

Scientific American is at the heart of NPG’s newly-formed consumer media division, meeting the needs of the general public. Founded in 1845, Scientific American is the oldest continuously published magazine in the US and the leading authoritative publication for science in the general media. Together with scientificamerican.com and 16 local language editions around the world it reaches over 3 million consumers and scientists. Other titles include Scientific American Mind and Spektrum der Wissenschaft in Germany.

Throughout all its businesses NPG is dedicated to serving the scientific and medical communities and the wider scientifically interested general public. Part of Macmillan Publishers Limited, NPG is a global company with principal offices in London, New York and Tokyo, and offices in cities worldwide including Boston, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Heidelberg, Basingstoke, Melbourne, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul and Washington DC. For more information, please go to www.nature.com.

About Creative Commons (CC):
Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001, that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works, whether owned or in the public domain. Through its free copyright licenses, Creative Commons offers authors, artists, scientists, and educators the choice of a flexible range of protections and freedoms that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to enable a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. Creative Commons was built with and is sustained by the generous support of organizations including the Center for the Public Domain, Omidyar Network, The Rockefeller Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as members of the public. For more information about Creative Commons, visit http://creativecommons.org.