Expanding the "JIG" Academic Publishing Platform to Nationwide Initiatives: MoU Signed with Taylor & Francis

On July 13, University of Tsukuba signed a new collaboration agreement with Taylor & Francis, a leading UK-based academic publisher. A delegation led by Ms.Penny Radkin-Brand, CEO of Taylor & Francis, visited the university and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with President NAGATA Kyosuke.

Under this agreement, the two parties aim to expand the innovative article platform "Japan Institutional Gateway" (JIG) to universities and research institutions throughout Japan.
JIG has been operating since August 2022, with ten affiliate institutions joining.

Regarding this agreement, President NAGATA stated the following:

I am delighted to discuss the future of the "University of Tsukuba Gateway" initiative, which we launched several years ago. Our goal is to expand this system to the entire Japanese academic community, enabling more researchers to share their research findings through JIG. I am confident that Taylor & Francis shares this vision —supporting both scholarly advancement and broader dissemination of research through a sustainable publishing model.

Penny Radkin-Brand, CEO, added:

A key challenge today is ensuring that valuable knowledge does not remain isolated. As a publisher, our role is to connect knowledge and help ensure that it is utilized more widely and has a greater impact. While Taylor & Francis has deep roots in the humanities, we have built a highly interdisciplinary publishing portfolio that brings together research across disciplines. In the "Age of Intelligence," we believe that technology can play a vital role in delivering knowledge to the people and communities that can benefit from it most.

Thanks to its collaboration with Taylor & Francis, University of Tsukuba will expand JIG through the newly established "All Japanese University Area (AJUA)" and provide its unique publishing platform to researchers nationwide. By providing a pathway to publish research results in Japanese with world-class speed and reliability, the two organizations aim to support the acceleration of the open science movement promoted by the Japanese government, while also expanding opportunities for research results originating in Japan to reach readers worldwide.