Springer Nature

Springer Nature or the Springer Nature Group^[1][2] is a German-British academic publishing company created by the May 2015 merger of Springer Science+Business Media and Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, and Macmillan Education.^[3]

Springer Nature

Type	Privately held Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien with an Aktiengesellschaft as general partner
Industry	Publishing
Founded	2015; 8 years ago (2015)
Headquarters	London, UK (global) Berlin, Germany (corporate) New York City, USA (sales)
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Frank Vrancken Peeters (CEO)
Revenue	US$1.72 billion (2019)
Owners	Holtzbrinck Publishing Group (53%) BC Partners (47%)
Number of employees	10,000 (2019)
Website	www.springernature.com
Footnotes / references ^[1]

History

The company originates from a number of journals and publishing houses, notably Springer-Verlag, which was founded in 1842 by Julius Springer in Berlin^[4] (the grandfather of Bernhard Springer who founded Springer Publishing in 1950 in New York),^[5] Nature Publishing Group which has published Nature since 1869,^[6] and Macmillan Education, which goes back to Macmillan Publishers founded in 1843.^[7]

Springer Nature was formed in 2015 by the merger of Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan and Macmillan Education (held by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group) with Springer Science+Business Media (held by BC Partners). Plans for the merger were first announced on 15 January 2015.^[8] The transaction was concluded in May 2015 with Holtzbrinck having the majority 53% share.^[9]

IPO attempts in May 2018 and Autumn 2020^[10] were unfruitful due to unfavorable market conditions.^[11][12]

In 2021, Springer Nature acquired Atlantis Press, an open access publisher founded 2006 in Paris, focusing on scientific, technical, and medical (STM) content, and publication of conference proceedings.^[13][14]

Current company

After the merger, former Springer Science+Business Media CEO Derk Haank became CEO of Springer Nature.^[15] When he retired by the end of 2017, he was succeeded by Daniel Ropers,^[16] the co-founder and long-time CEO of bol.com.^[17] In September 2019, Ropers was replaced by Frank Vrancken Peeters.^[18][19]

The company is releasing a number of Policies & Reports,^[20] including a Modern Slavery Act statement, a Tax strategy, a gender pay gap report for Springer Nature’s UK operations,^[21][22] Editorial and publishing policies, Code of conduct, etc.

Brands

The following major brands belong to the group (see also Subsidiaries):^[23]

• Nature
• Springer.com
• BioMed Central
• Scientific American
• Heinrich Vogel Verlag^[24]
• SciGraph

Controversies

In 2017, the company agreed to block access to hundreds of articles on its Chinese site, cutting off access to articles on Tibet, Taiwan, and China's political elite.^[25][26]

The company retracted a paper in 2019, in its journal BMC Emergency Medicine due to dubious peer-review process (a herpetologist could have denied the publication of the paper).^[27]

In August 2020, Springer Nature was reported to have rejected the publication of an article at the behest of its co-publisher, Wenzhou Medical University, from a Taiwanese doctor because the word "China" was not placed after "Taiwan."^[28][29]

In July 2020, Springer Nature retracted a paper in the journal Society due to dubious review process and criticism regarding racism.^[30]

In November 2021, Springer Nature retracted 44 nonsense papers from the Arabian Journal of Geosciences after a lapse in the peer review process.^[31][32]

Subsidiaries

• Adis International
• Apress
• Asser Press
• BioMed Central
• Bohn Stafleu van Loghum
• J. B. Metzler
• Macmillan Education
• Nature Research
• Palgrave Macmillan
• Scientific American
• Springer Healthcare
• Springer VS
• Springer Verlag
• Springer Gabler
• Springer Vieweg Verlag
• Springer Medizin
• Springer Pflege
• Springer Nature Technology and Publishing Solutions
• SciGraph

Further reading

• Fact Sheet 2022 (linked PDF)
• Fact Sheet Open Access 2022 (linked PDF)
• Springer Nature Group Press Office

See also

• Publishing
• Scientific publication

References

1. "Über uns: Presse" (in German). Springer Nature Group. Retrieved 2021-03-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
2. "Türen für Entdeckungen Öffnen" (in German). Springer Nature Group. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
3. "Springer Nature created following merger completion". Springer. 6 May 2015.
4. . KnowledgeSpeak.com. 11 May 2017. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
5. . Springer.com. 2014. Archived from the original on 27 December 2016.
6. "Nature". Phys.org. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
7. "About Us | Springer Nature | Corporate Affairs Homepage | Springer Nature". group.springernature.com. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
8. "Nature publisher to merge with Springer". Times Higher Education. 15 January 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
9. Caroline Carpenter (May 6, 2015). "Completed merger forms 'Springer Nature'". The Bookseller. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
10. "Springer Nature Said to Kick Off 1 Billion-Euro IPO This Month". Bloomberg.com. 2020-09-04. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
11. Schuetze, Arno (2018-05-08). "Weak demand forces Springer Nature to cancel $3.2 billion float at last minute". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
12. Benjamin Robertson, Ruth David, Jan-Henrik Foerster (3 October 2020). "Europe IPO Revival Peters Out as Year's Top German Deal Delayed". Bloomberg.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
13. "About Atlantis Press". Atlantis Press. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
14. Anderson, Porter (March 11, 2021). "Springer Nature Acquires Paris' Open Access Atlantis Pres". Publishing Perspectives.
15. "Derk J Haank, Springer Science+Business: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
16. "Derk Haank, Chief Executive Officer to retire and to be succeeded by Daniel Ropers". www.springer.com. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
17. "Bol.com's Ropers to take Haank's role at Springer Nature". The Bookseller. 6 May 2015.
18. "Executive Team | Corporate Affairs Homepage | Springer Nature". group.springernature.com. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
19. "Springer Nature Announces CEO Succession: Frank Vrancken Peeters appointed Chief Executive Officer. Daniel Ropers to step down. | Corporate Affairs Homepage | Springer Nature". group.springernature.com.
20. "Policies, Reports and Acts | Springer Nature | Corporate Affairs Homepage | Springer Nature". group.springernature.com. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
21. "Springer Nature reports 15.12% pay gap". www.thebookseller.com. The Bookseller. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
22. "Springer Nature Gender Pay Gap Report – April 2018 - EN | Corporate Affairs Homepage | Springer Nature". group.springernature.com. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
23. "Springer Nature Group | Corporate Affairs Homepage | Springer Nature". group.springernature.com. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
24. "Heinrich Vogel Shop". www.heinrich-vogel-shop.de. Retrieved 2021-03-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
25. Hernández, Javier C. (2017-11-01). "Leading Western Publisher Bows to Chinese Censorship (Published 2017)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
26. Hilgers, Lauren (January 10, 2018). "The Mystery of the Exiled Billionaire Whistle-Blower". The New York Times.
27. retractionwatch (3 April 2020). "A snake bites once, but its picture is used twice".
28. Tang, Jane (1 September 2020). "Springer Nature Journal Rejects Article by Taiwan Doctor Over Country Name". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
29. Charlie Parker (October 10, 2020). "Taiwan academics told to identify as Chinese in journal". The Times.
30. retractionwatch (31 July 2020). "Springer Nature retracts paper that hundreds called 'overtly racist'".
31. Isaac Schultz (6 November 2021). "Science Publisher Retracts 44 Papers for Being Utter Nonsense". Gizmodo.
32. Marcus, Adam (November 4, 2021). "Springer Nature geosciences journal retracts 44 articles filled with gibberish". Retraction Watch. Retrieved September 14, 2022.

External links

• Official website