Freshfields has advised Swiss-based Frontiers Media on a joint venture with Nature Publishing Group. Both companies want to innovate communications and publishing around scientific content via Open Access and Open Science tools.

International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Swiss-based publishing group Frontiers Media SA on a joint venture with Nature Publishing Group. NPG has acquired a majority stake in Frontiers.

Frontiers which was founded in 2007 by scientists from École Polytechnique Fédéderale de Lausanne, is oneof the fastest growing open access publishers and also operates a networking platform for researchers. NPG, an undertaking of the British Macmillan Group which in turn is part of Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group, is a leading scientific publisher, for example of the prestigious journal Nature.

NPG and Frontiers will work together to innovate the way scientific research is being communicated and published through open access and open science channels.

The Cologne-based Freshfields team advising Frontiers included Ludwig Leyendecker, Sebastian Kalb, Johanna Linke, Martin Fröhlich (all corporate), Florian C. Haus and Stephan Purps (both competition).

http://www.freshfields.com/en/deals/Frontiers_Media_JV_Nature_Publishin…