Landscape Ecology - Landscape Ecology is now a full open access journal!
We are excited to announce that Landscape Ecology is a full open access (OA) journal as of January 2024! It now publishes only OA content that is freely available to readers worldwide, enabling the widest possible dissemination and reuse.
Springer Nature is committed to ensuring our portfolios serve and meet the evolving needs of the research community and that quality research is read and disseminated as widely as possible. Transforming Landscape Ecology to full OA reflects our ongoing commitment to driving the transition to open research, and providing researchers with OA publication venues that can amplify their research and enable compliance with funder and institutional OA requirements, while continuing to deliver a high level of author service. See our FAQs below for further information.
Transition to Full Open Access FAQ
What license will Landscape Ecology OA articles be published under?
Landscape Ecology will continue to publish OA articles under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (this opens in a new tab), and authors will retain copyright in their OA articles. CC BY 4.0 is the most open license available and considered the industry “gold standard” for OA; it is also preferred by many funders and—in some cases—required in order to comply with OA policies. More information about CC licensing is available on our Open Access Policies for Journals (this opens in a new tab) (see “OA licensing and copyright” section).
What happened to content already published (prior to 2024) via the non-OA route (i.e., hybrid/subscription)?
Where content has already been published via the non-OA route in Landscape Ecology prior to the flip to full OA in January 2024, access to these articles will continue to be governed by the same license terms as at present; articles which were previously published as subscription will continue to be available for those access via institutions or personal subscriptions. If you wish to reuse an article that does not have a CC BY license, you can make a request via the "Reprints and permissions" link on the article page.
Members of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab) continue to enjoy access to previously published non-OA content.
What if I do not have OA funding? Does this mean I can no longer submit to Landscape Ecology?
Springer Nature has a number of Transformative Agreements (this opens in a new tab) and Open Access Agreements for Individual Institutions (this opens in a new tab) in place around the world. If your article is approved as eligible by your institution then it will be published OA and you will not be invoiced by Springer Nature, since the APC will be centrally invoiced to the OA agreement.
There are also many institutions and research funders that provide APC funding for OA authors. You can find more information on our APC Funding & Support Services (this opens in a new tab) page, or contact our support service directly: OAfundingpolicy@springernature.com (this opens in a new tab)
Springer Nature recognizes that some authors may not have access to OA funds, and so has discount and waiver policies in place to ensure that no author is prevented from publishing in an OA journal because they are unable to fund the APC. You can apply for an APC discount or waiver during the Landscape Ecology submission process. The APC waivers team will then confirm if you are eligible for a waiver or discount under our Open Access Policies for Journals (this opens in a new tab) (see “Article processing charges” section).
Members of the International Association for Landscape Ecology are entitled to a discount off the APC of their accepted paper in Landscape Ecology. Members should send their APC token request directly to the IALE Vice-Secretary General (this opens in a new tab).
Who can I contact with further questions?
The Open Research Support team (this opens in a new tab) is on standby and happy to assist you!
Keep up with the latest Landscape Ecology content by signing up for Journal Alerts today (this opens in a new tab)!