No Access – Get Access!
Background information on the contractual negotiations with the publishers Springer Nature and SAGE.
In a nutshell
- Contractual negotiations were not successfully concluded by the end of December 2025. For this reason, ZHAW is currently in a no-deal scenario with Springer Nature and SAGE.
- Reading access to new publications from 2026 is no longer guaranteed.
- Costs for Open Access publications are no longer covered by the ZHAW.
Find an Open Access version
A no-deal scenario does not necessarily mean an immediate lockout of journal content. However, if you really do not have access, it is worth looking for an OA version of the article.
Browser extension
Install a browser extension. We recommend Install a browser extension (Browser Extension). The extension automatically informs you about OA versions when you call up an article and links to them. We recommend Open Access Button, Unpaywall and/or Google Scholar Button. All are available as Chrome and Firefox extensions.
Google Scholar
After a search in Google Scholar, you can select ‘All [number] versions’ under the title found, see search help for Google Scholar. The versions that are freely accessible, e.g. on the ZHAW digitalcollection, are now also displayed.
Ask the university library
Have you already tried all options and still not received access to the article? You can then obtain the required item from the university library via interlibrary loan. Please complete the following interlibrary loan form so that the item can be obtained without any queries.
Use your network
Contact the author directly and ask for the article for your personal use. You can usually see the author's name and institution on the article page of the publisher's website.
Contractual negotiations
With the National Open Access Strategy, swissuniversities have set themselves the goal of making all scientific publications freely accessible ("Open Access", abbreviated OA) from 2032 onwards. In addition to implementation through pure Open Access publications (Gold OA) and secondary publications in repositories (Green OA), so-called Read & Publish agreements are a central component of swissuniversities' Action Plan (in German).
With these agreements, university members should not only continue to have access to the range of journals offered by a publisher, but also be able to publish in them openly and free of charge at the same time.
In the past, agreements were in place with the publishers Springer Nature (2020–2025) and SAGE (2021–2025). Negotiations on respective follow-up agreements could not be successfully concluded by the end of December 2025. For this reason, the ZHAW is currently in a no-deal scenario with both publishers.
The Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries provides an overview of the implications of the no-deal situation with Springer Nature and SAGE, as well as some FAQs, on its websites: