[1] The coalition currently includes some 800 institutions[1] in North America, Europe, Japan, China and Australia.

[5] As founding director, Rick Johnson led the establishment of SPARC in 2002 as a result of so many librarians expressing the desire for reform.

[10] SPARC has established itself as an international alliance of academic and research libraries working "to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system".

Action by SPARC in collaboration with stakeholders – including authors, publishers, and libraries – builds on the opportunities created by the networked digital environment to advance the conduct of scholarship.

Authors which use the form typically retain the rights to use their own work without restriction, receive attribution, and to self-archive.