Movement to Transformative Agreements in Japanese university libraries and activities related to open access by the Japan Alliance of University Library Consortia for E-Resources (JUSTICE)

Abstract

Since the 1990s, academic journals that had been subscribed to in print switched to e-journals, and university libraries signed collection contracts called Big Deal. The Big Deal had some effect in putting the brakes on the serials crisis, but it did not solve the problem of journal subscription price increases. Open access has attracted attention as one of the countermeasures. And more and more university libraries are signing transformative agreements. In this paper, we will explain transformative agreements and their issues, as well as introduce the activities related to open access by the Japan Alliance of University Library Consortia for E-Resources (JUSTICE), such as Open Access Publication and Article Processing Charges (APCs) in Japan, and discuss future prospects.