Dear Frank Vrancken Peeters (CEO, Springer Nature) and Stefan von Holtzbrinck (CEO, Holtzbrinck Publishing Group),
Springer Nature made over $500M in operating profit in 2022, a 27% margin. They have recently quietly increased their open access article processing fees on Nature journals to $12,290. But they say they can’t afford to pay their staff a fair wage.
Nature’s editors, journalists and production staff have been forced to go on strike after being offered a pay rise far below the cumulative effects of inflation. Negotiations have been ongoing for some 9 months, while their UK staff have additionally sought better all-round workloads, working conditions and fair pay.
By signing this petition, I support the workers at Nature journals in the UK looking for a fair pay rise. I urge Springer Nature to return to the negotiating table with an offer which recognises the hard work of the staff who make the journals what they are today.
As members of the scientific community, we recognise the essential roles your editors, writers and production staff play in making your journals. These are the people we work closely with to make the scientific record, who uphold the primary mission statement of Nature to “serve scientists through prompt publication of significant advances in any branch of science, and to provide a forum for the reporting and discussion of news and issues concerning science.” If you wish to continue with that mission, you cannot do it without your staff.
Signed,
Click here to sign: https://forms.gle/E1GjTuJBJrCHyseh6 . The letter will be sent to national and international media outlets with the list of signatories, and then made public.
Update 13:45 BST, 3 July: The NUJ and Springer Nature are pleased to have reached an agreement which ends our pay dispute. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for your support!
Update 19:00 BST, 24 June: We’ve just reached 1,000 signatories! Thank you so much for your support and your kind words!
Update 10:23 BST, 20 June: Public messages of support included in signatory list
Update 15:02 BST, 19 June: List of signatories included
Signed
Ben List, Max Planck Society, 2021 Nobel Prize for Chemistry: “Science should not be the subject of greed, but rather of openness, freedom, enthusiasm, and fairness.”
David MacMillan, Princeton, 2021 Nobel Prize for Chemistry
Edvard Moser, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Prof May-Britt Moser, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: “Nature editors do a fantastic job, salaries should reflect that.”
David Julius, UCSF, 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Prof. Eric N. Jacobsen, Harvard University: “Nature's editors, journalists and production staff play a critical role in the evaluation, advancement, and communication of science. They need to be compensated appropriately for their work.”
Dr. Ardem Patapoutian, Scripps Research, 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Giorgio Parisi, 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, Rome University La sapienza
William G. Kaelin, Jr., M.D.,Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Andre Geim, University of Manchester, 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics
Phil Baran, Scripps Research
Prof. Donald Hilvert, ETH Zurich
Prof David Leigh FRS, University of Manchester
Prof. Patrick Sexton, Monash University
Professor Catherine Drennan, MIT
Prof Dr Raphaël Rodriguez, Institut Curie - CNRS
Professor Matthew Gaunt, University of Cambridge
Sjors Scheres, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Professor Nicholas Turner, University of Manchester
Benjamin Cravatt, The Scripps Research Institute
Kim Lewis, University Distinguished Professor, Director, Antimicrobial Discovery Center, Northeastern University
Prof. David Relman, Stanford
Prof. Gerard Wright, McMaster University
Charles Swanton, University College London
Rotem Sorek, Weizmann Institute of Science
Eva-Maria Geigl, CNRS
Dr. M. Madan Babu, FRS, FMedSci, St Jude Children's Research Hospital
Tony Wyss-Coray, Stanford
Jill Banfield, Professor, UC Berkeley
Jim Collins, MIT
Stephen Brusatte, University of Edinburgh
Anne Brunet, Stanford
Prof Robin Franklin, FRS
Prof Li-Huei Tsai, MIT
Jeffrey Gordon, Director Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine
Ronald DePinho, MD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Michelle Monje, Stanford University: “Nature editors do important and difficult work requiring extensive expertise; their compensation should reflect that.”
Brian Kobilka, Stanford University, 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Professor Chao-Yang Lu, Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Science and Technology of China
Kostya Novoselov, National University of Singapore, 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics
Stephen Fry, self-employed: “We need more than ever the skill, judgement, scrutiny and conscientious insight that only real science writers can provide. They need employment rights and compensation befitting the importance of the work they do.”
Professor Jian-Wei Pan, University of Science and Technology of China
Claudia Felser, Vice President Max Planck Society
Professor Chao-Yang Lu, Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Science and Technology of China
Johannes Krause, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Prof Eske Willerslev, Cambridge University
Sir Paul Nurse, The Francis Crick Institute, 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
For a full list of the more than 1,100 signatories, see this document, which will be updated periodically. Please contact nuj.springernature@gmail.com with any questions.