Springer Nature is to collaborate with ResearchGate on what the two organisations are calling innovative access models for scientific content.

Under the agreement, full-text articles published in select Nature journals since November 2017 will be rolled out to researchers’ ResearchGate profiles, making it easier to read or download research on- or off-campus.

ResearchGate and Springer Nature say they view the removal of such barriers and the delivery of frictionless access as part of a broader goal to improve access to scientific results for everyone. The pilot is aimed at helping authors to harness the network’s collaborative power, increase visibility and discoverability of their work, and enable them to measure the impact of their research across platforms.

Steven Inchcoombe, chief publishing officer at Springer Nature, said: 'At Springer Nature we are committed to finding new ways to help researchers advance discovery. Being able to access and collaborate on research is fundamental to this and it is important for us to enable this to happen on the platforms used by researchers and authors. It is early days, but we are very excited about this first pilot with ResearchGate which will see us explore new ways for researchers to share content to deliver a better experience for the scientific community which ResearchGate and Springer Nature both serve.'

Ijad Madisch, ResearchGate’s CEO, added: 'We’re excited to work together with Springer Nature on this first pilot. This pilot unites Springer Nature’s experience in publishing ground-breaking research with ResearchGate’s 15 million scientist strong global network and its reach as the most visited website for science.

'Collaboration is key for science. Scientists need to work together to drive progress and they need access to each other’s findings to build on them together. We’re looking forward to working with more industry partners with complementary capabilities and strengths like Springer Nature in the future to create the conditions in which scientific collaborations can flourish.'

In April 2018, ResearchGate and publishers including Springer Nature entered into an agreement to support the sharing of articles. The collaboration between ResearchGate and Springer Nature which kicks off today with this pilot, marks an important next step where both companies work together to provide better support to the scientific community. Gathering continuous feedback from scientists and institutions will be key to ensuring this collaboration delivers valuable support.