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Knowledge Unlatched and LibLynx Partner to Advance Open Access Analytics

Knowledge Unlatched (KU), a Wiley brand, is collaborating with LibLynx to enhance the delivery of comprehensive usage analytics for Open Access (OA) scholarly publications. LibLynx’s innovative Touchstone analytics solution, developed in partnership with PSI Metrics, will enable libraries worldwide to assess the impact of thousands of OA titles made available through KU’s library crowdfunding initiatives.

As a global leader in curating and supporting the publishing of peer-reviewed OA content, KU works with publishers and libraries to make scholarly works freely accessible. Over 5,000 titles are available across platforms such as JSTOR, Project MUSE, OAPEN, and the Open Research Library (ORL). The ability to aggregate and analyze usage data from these platforms is critical for libraries to evaluate the local and global impact of these publications effectively.

Through this partnership, LibLynx will implement a data pipeline for KU, capable of collecting, standardizing, and enriching usage event data from partner platforms. The solution will provide real-time, customizable dashboards and detailed analytics reports tailored to the needs of libraries, institutional partners, and authors.

“Measuring the impact of OA publications for institutions and researchers has always been an integral part of what we do,” said Olaf Ernst, Chief Solution Officer within Wiley. “We’re delighted to partner with LibLynx, whose expertise ensures we can deliver this crucial information to our global partners effectively.”

The analytics will give libraries granular insights into their content’s usage, including data on the organizational origin of readership and engagement by title, country, organizational type, and subject area. Data can be accessed online or exported as PDFs and spreadsheets for further analysis.

“OA usage analytics are becoming increasingly complex as publishers broaden accessibility across multiple platforms,” said John Corkery, Client Engagement Director at LibLynx. “Our plug-and-play solution enables facilitators like KU to provide unified, actionable reporting for their institutional stakeholders.”

ResearchGate and De Gruyter Brill expand Journal Home partnership to cover 60 journals and activate Open Access Agreement Upgrade

ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, and De Gruyter Brill, a global leader in humanities publishing and beyond, have today announced an expansion of their Journal Home partnership covering 60 titles. They have additionally activated the pioneering Open Access Agreement Upgrade.  

The extended partnership follows a successful content syndication agreement that has been in place since February 2023. 60 journals covering a broad and representative range of De Gruyter Brill’s combined portfolios will now benefit from Journal Home’s advanced visibility features and insights, including:  

  • Increased brand profile, with dedicated journal profile pages highlighting key information and content, along with prominent journal branding across article pages and relevant member touch points. 
  • Improved author support, with articles automatically added to authors’ profile pages, and providing key insights into who is reading and citing their articles. 
  • Increased impact on authorship for the journals through continuous engagement and interaction with relevant authors throughout their publishing cycles.
  • Full content syndication covering all historical and newly published articles, providing greater accessibility and visibility with ResearchGate’s highly relevant, global audience of 25m+ researcher members. This includes access to subscription content for entitled users. 
  • A deeper insight into the impact, engagement and communities of each journal through Journal Home’s unique analytics. 

With the Open Access Agreement Upgrade (OAAU), De Gruyter Brill also seeks to address a widely reported challenge: making researchers aware of funding available to them through institutional Open Access (OA) Agreements. The OAAU offers De Gruyter Brill:  

  • A unique understanding of the number of researchers in eligible institutions who can benefit from De Gruyter Brill’s OA agreements, based on their publishing history and areas of research. 
  • An unprecedented opportunity to communicate directly with individual researchers about their eligibility for funding under agreements. 
  • The ability to deliver highly targeted messages across relevant member touchpoints on the ResearchGate platform, providing timely and contextual information to researchers as they engage with individual journals. 
  • A rich understanding of the effectiveness of communication, with unique reporting and analytics measuring engagement at each stage of the publishing journey – from readership all the way through to authorship. 

“This is an important time for De Gruyter Brill as we strive for new and better services for our author communities, so we are delighted to expand our collaboration with ResearchGate,” said Zita Jeukendrup, VP of Marketing. “Activating the OAAU for our journals supports our commitment to grow OA publishing in the humanities, where funding is a known barrier to participation. Highlighting our agreements to eligible researchers enables the possibilities of open research for these authors.” 

“We have long been admirers of De Gruyter Brill and their drive to push the boundaries of publishing, seeking new ways to disseminate knowledge among global researcher communities,” said Sören Hofmayer, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at ResearchGate. “It’s an exciting time for the newly combined organisation to drive forwards open access and enhance author service, and we look forward to seeing OA growth across the portfolio. 

For more information about Journal Home, please visit researchgate.net/journal-home 

For more information about ResearchGate, please visit www.researchgate.net   

For more information about De Gruyter Brill, please visit degruyterbrill.com  

1,000 institutions in 53 countries are now participating in The Company of Biologists’ Read & Publish initiative

As we celebrate our 100-year anniversary in 2025, we are delighted to announce that we now have 1,000 institutions participating in our cost-neutral Read & Publish Open Access (OA) initiative.

1,000 institutions in 53 countries are now participating. We have agreements with 20 library consortia, and we have recently renewed our agreements with BIBSAM, CAUL and Jisc. We have seen growth in many regions given the support of consortia representatives and regional partners. In Europe, we have seen growth in Germany, (thanks to ZB Med – Information for Life Sciences), Italy and Spain. There has been significant growth in Asia/S. E. Asia — Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China — thanks to the Japan Alliance of University Library Consortia for E-Resources (JUSTICE); the Korean E-resource Service for Library Consortium (KESLI); the Korean Council for University Education Consortium (KCUE); the Digital Resource Acquisition Alliance of Chinese Academic Libraries (DRAA), and our most recent agreement with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), respectively. We continue to see a significant increase in North America and in developing and transition economy countries through our agreement with Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL).

The success of our Read & Publish initiative continues to drive growth in the proportion of OA research content in our transformative journals — Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology.

We are also delighted that nearly all libraries have opted to include our fully OA journals — Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open — in their Read & Publish agreements in 2025. This shift not only reduces barriers to publishing and accessing research articles but enables corresponding authors at participating institutions to publish an uncapped number of OA research articles in our two fully OA journals as well as our transformative journals – without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC).

Shelly Turner, Sales & Marketing Director at The Company of Biologists, says:

“We would like to thank our library customers and consortia partners throughout the world for their support of our Read & Publish initiative — without you, we would not have reached this amazing milestone. We are absolutely thrilled that such a significant number of institutions are able to access our content, and that more and more researchers from around the globe can publish fee-free OA research articles in our journals.”

Claire Moulton, CEO at The Company of Biologists, says:

“We are overjoyed to reach this significant landmark as we celebrate our 100-year anniversary. We launched the Read & Publish initiative as part of our long-standing commitment to OA, and we were one of the first not-for-profit publishers to introduce a Read & Publish programme. The ongoing success of the initiative is supporting our transformative journal strategy and has helped us to meet our targets for OA growth.
We continue to be delighted with the fantastic feedback that we receive from authors all over the world who have benefitted from immediate and fee-free OA publishing in our journals.”

Wiley Joins India’s Landmark One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) Initiative, Expanding Research Access

In line with the Government of India’s groundbreaking One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) initiative, Wiley, one of the world’s largest publishers and a trusted leader in research and learning, has signed a 3-year license agreement. Under this agreement, Wiley has enabled access to nearly 2,000 journals, supporting approximately 18 million students, researchers, and faculty across 6,300+ government higher education institutions and research centers nationwide.

“This collaboration represents a pivotal moment for India’s academic and research landscape. We are proud to partner with the government to advance this initiative forward,” said Ritesh Kumar, Country Lead for Wiley in India. “ONOS is not just about accessing journals—it’s about creating a unified national research ecosystem that will empower Indian researchers to lead global scientific conversations, break traditional knowledge barriers, and accelerate our country’s research output.”

Prof. Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India said, “The One Nation One Subscription initiative embodies the honorable Prime Minister’s call of ‘Jai Anusandhan’ – celebrating research and innovation. By empowering researchers from metropolitan centers to the most remote institutions, we’re cultivating a nationwide innovation network that will fuel our national aspirations. This initiative is truly aimed at positioning India as a global leader in scientific discovery during our Amrit Kaal.”

“The One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) initiative of the Government of India is a transformative initiative. ONOS ensures that Higher Education Institutions of central government and all state governments and R&D institutions of central government, irrespective of their size and budgets, can participate fully in India’s research revolution. By democratizing access to world-class research resources, we’re empowering all the students and researchers of these institutions across India to contribute to our nation’s knowledge economy,” said Dr. Vineet Joshi, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education.

The three-year Wiley agreement from 2025-2027, aligns with the Indian government’s Viksitbharat@2047 vision of establishing India as a global research and innovation hub. It aims to provide comprehensive digital access to scholarly publications, support researchers in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, and enhance open access publishing opportunities.

ACS Publications Partners with Silverchair for Next-Generation Delivery Platform

Silverchair today announced a partnership with the Publications division of the American Chemical Society (ACS Publications) to develop a new content hosting platform that will deliver ACS’s indispensable chemistry-related resources to the global research community.

ACS Publications is a leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through over 85 peer-reviewed journals, as well as digital books, reference materials, and educational tools. The new platform will be home to over 1.9 million journal articles that are accessed over 345 million times each year, as well as nearly 1,000 informational pages about the journals and their editors and editorial boards.

“As a leader and innovator in the world of scientific publishing, we sought a true technology partner to support our mission-critical product infrastructure,” said Atul Pawar, ACS Publications Chief Technology Officer. “Within the landscape of scholarly publishing technology, we found Silverchair to be uniquely capable of offering the scale to support our vast content library and heavy user traffic, as well as the flexibility and partnership as we grow and evolve in the years ahead.”

The platform’s advanced architecture, modular integration capabilities, and service model deliver the core functionality and strong foundation upon which ACS can differentiate their products, while Silverchair’s independence, culture of collaboration, and client-led development combine to make them the ideal choice for this next-generation delivery platform.

“ACS Publications is the global leader not just in the field of chemistry, but also in scholarly publishing,” said Will Schweitzer, Silverchair CEO. “We’re honored and proud to support ACS Publications’ commitment to publish high-quality, impactful research, and that the Silverchair platforms will help ACS Publications fulfill their important mission. ACS joins our growing and diverse client community, and their leadership within scholarly publishing will help us advance our platforms and services to support the future of independent scholarly publishers.”

Serbia adopts Open Science Platform 2.0

The Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of Serbia has adopted a new national open science (OS) policy – the Open Science Platform 2.0 – that applies to all Serbian publicly-funded research projects and programmes. 

EIFL welcomes the adoption of the policy, which significantly expands the scope of OS efforts in Serbia, and updates the country’s first national OS policy, which was adopted in 2018. 

In addition to mandating open access (OA) for publicly funded research, the new policy states that universities and research institutes must update their institutional OS policies within six months to comply with the national policy.

The policy emphasizes five key goals: (1) OA to scholarly publications; (2) availability of research data; (3) open and transparent access to research infrastructures; (4) transparency of scholarly communication and methodology, including the availability of software source code, design documentation of research hardware and other digital objects used in the analysis of research data, and (5) the development of the digital infrastructure and competencies that make it possible to achieve the goals of the policy. 

The Open Science Platform 2.0 was drafted by the Team for Open Science in Serbia (TONuS), a dedicated task force established by the Ministry, including more than 30 researchers, policy makers, funders and librarians. Compliance with the policy will be monitored using indicators that will be developed by TONuS.

THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE POLICY

  • Mandatory OA to all publicly funded publications (including journal articles, monographs, book chapters, conference papers, and PhD theses) upon publication. Embargo periods of up to three months for natural and medical sciences and engineering, and six months for social sciences and humanities may be allowed.
  • When signing publishing agreements, authors should retain the intellectual property rights necessary to enable depositing in repositories and providing OA.
  • Publication fees in OA journals, monographs, conference proceedings and edited volumes are eligible only if planned in the research project or programme budget and if the publication venue has transparent editorial policies. Publication fees charged by hybrid OA publication venues, which include a mixture of OA and subscription-based articles, are not eligible for funding.
  • The Ministry supports the Diamond OA publishing model, where neither authors nor readers pay fees, by recommending that authors publish their research in Diamond OA journals whenever possible and by providing subsidies only to Diamond OA journals.
  • Publicly-subsidized journals, monographs and conference proceedings must follow open licensing policies.
  • Research data resulting from publicly funded projects must be managed according to the FAIR principles (FAIR stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and archived in FAIR-compliant repositories. Data management plans are mandatory for publicly-funded projects and programmes.
  • OA to research data underlying publications is required unless legal, ethical, or contractual restrictions apply.
  • The policy recommends making software source code and research hardware design documentation created through public funding openly accessible, human- and machine-readable, and licensed under open licences.
  • Research infrastructures should be transparently available to researchers, with institutions ensuring clear access policies.
  • Persistent identifiers (PIDs) are required for researchers (ORCID) and publications (DOI). The use of PIDs for all research outputs, instruments, and projects is recommended.
  • Developing OS skills is encouraged through academic programmes, professional training and the establishment of national competency centres.
  • Institutions are encouraged to introduce incentives and rewards for OS practices.

Reflections on the Current Moment from SSP’s Board of Directors

The recent months have been deeply unsettling for those of us who work in the global scholarly communications industry.  The challenges stemming from a shifting U.S. political landscape, which threaten academic freedom, DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) initiatives, the scholarly record, and federal research funding, are affecting the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) community in multiple ways: mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially.

A cornerstone of SSP’s strategic plan is to foster DEIA in our community through demonstrated leadership to expand the diversity of professionals working in scholarly communications. During these uncertain and stressful times, the SSP Board of Directors remains firmly dedicated to our core values of community, inclusivity, adaptability, and integrity, and we are unwavering in our commitment to DEIA. 

We also remain steadfast in our commitment to supporting the well-being of all our volunteer members by providing a safe space where they can connect, collaborate, problem-solve, network, and build friendships. For example, our recently launched SSP Community Interest Group for Mental Health Awareness and Action meets virtually each month and offers tangible resources and potential solutions to alleviate the burdens we face today. SSP members (including anyone who works at an SSP member organization) are welcome to join. In addition, we are having broader discussions in multiple arenas, including several posts on recent events in The Scholarly Kitchen. We invite you to share your comments and stay abreast of the ever-changing policies and initiatives that affect us all.

Since we were established in 1978, SSP has intentionally demonstrated an unwavering commitment to building a diverse and inclusive community. We actively infuse our work with equitable values, including providing leadership as a founding member of the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Publishing (C4DISC), an intraorganizational body of trade and professional organizations formed to discuss and address issues of diversity and inclusion. 

Our ongoing mission to promote and advance scholarly communication through networking, information dissemination, and facilitation of new developments in the field serves as a reminder that, as a community of compassionate and dedicated professionals, we will navigate these challenges together.

The SSP Board of Directors 

PLOS Price Transparency Update 2024

We’re pleased to once again share our annual reporting from the Plan S Journal Comparison Service to give our community insight into how our publication fees are used to support journal activities. 

Price transparency snapshot for 2023
The data in the table below reflects the reporting we provided to the Journal Comparison Service at the end of 2024 covering the year 2023. It’s based on the publication fee for a Research Article in each journal at that time and the services we provide for each article we receive (not just those which are ultimately published).

While the price breakdown among the broad categories provided by the framework remains largely the same year to year, we are always innovating to meet the needs of our communities. In 2023 we invested in processes, tools and systems to further support our high publication ethics standards, as well as strengthening our overall digital infrastructure to meet growing submissions. 

Of course, there are always variances between journals in line with differences in their editorial models and development stage. Community Development, for example, takes a greater share of the allocation for our newer journals as we continue to establish those journals in their respective fields. We encourage you to look back at our original post for more detail on key differences between our journal models.

You can find our full report from the framework in this spreadsheet.

 2023 APC price% of price for journal and community development% of price from submission to first decision% of price for peer review management% of price for services from acceptance to publication% of price for services after publication% of price for platform development% of price for sales & marketing to customers or of articles% of price for author and customer support
PLOS Computational Biology$2,84110%14%12%18%8%11%18%9%
PLOS Digital Health$2,57521%11%10%18%8%13%10%9%
PLOS Genetics$2,84112%14%13%17%8%10%17%9%
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases$2,67011%13%11%18%8%12%18%9%
PLOS Pathogens$2,84110%14%12%18%8%11%18%9%
PLOS Biology$5,50020%23%19%11%5%5%12%5%
PLOS Medicine$6,30016%18%16%12%6%7%18%7%
PLOS Sustainability and Transformation$3,00030%13%12%13%6%10%9%7%
PLOS Climate$2,10021%25%14%11%10%8%6%5%
PLOS Global Public Health$2,10021%14%12%15%8%12%10%8%
PLOS Water$2,10021%28%14%9%10%7%6%5%
PLOS One$1,93112%14%11%16%8%12%18%9%

Beyond the APC
While the data above are based on the standard publication fee for each journal, PLOS has long been working to reimagine more equitable and sustainable models for open access publishing that do not rely on APCs. Each of our journals are currently supported by institutional business models to address different challenges such as the high-cost of selective publishing and regional economic disparities.

As a non-profit organization, PLOS also works alongside researchers, librarians, and funders to redefine publishing norms and effect positive change. In 2024 we received three major grants to advance this work: a 3-year funding package from the Gates Foundation which will support PLOS during our transition to APC-free publishing and funding support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launching our 18-month Research and Design project which seeks to transform publishing models to ensure that science is open, recognized, and accessible to all.

We’re excited to provide updates on the R&D project throughout the year. You can also find more information about our finances and strategic initiatives on our Financial Overview page.

JAMS Relaunch Empowers Small Publishers with Enhanced Support and Flexible Pricing

Since 2010, MDPI has run its own online submission system. More recently, we have made the software, with accompanying publishing services, available to other publishers as JAMS (Journal and Article Management System). We are now delighted to announce the launch of JAMS Journals, a standardized platform for operating open access journals at low cost.

JAMS Journals provides a comprehensive service, including a shared submission website, journal websites hosted at a URL provided by the publisher, and a full production service. There is a small setup fee and the cost for each published paper is just a few hundred Swiss francs.

The platform demonstrates that running an open access journal can be straightforward and affordable. The JAMS Journals platform is suitable for

  • small publishers or groups of scholars looking to launch their own journal;
  • existing publishers or societies seeking to explore open access options;
  • publishers looking to convert an existing subscription journal to open access.

JAMS journals launches with two journals from Canadian-based publisher Etcetera Publications:

Dr AJ Al-Rajab (President of Etcetera Publications) comments:

“In the past few months, we were working on our project to launch new open access scientific journals in the field of agricultural and environmental sciences. We decided to go with JAMS for this venture because of the high quality of their services, reasonable prices, professionalism and easy communication. Our portfolio is expected to grow rapidly during 2019 to include more titles covering different areas in agriculture and environment. MDPI earned already our complete satisfaction and we are looking for a long term cooperation.”

Alongside the new platform, we continue to provide flexible, tailored journal management solutions for existing publishers. For any questions or to request a quotation, contact Dr. Constanze Schelhorn (constanze.schelhorn@mdpi.com).

MIS Quarterly Partners with Silverchair

Silverchair announced today a new partnership to host the MIS Quarterly journal on the Silverchair Platform. MIS Quarterly has been partnered with Silverchair’s ScholarOne Manuscripts product since 2007 and looks forward to the efficiencies of the new combined organization.

MIS Quarterly is a top-rated peer-reviewed academic journal covering research in management information systems and information technology. In their search for a new hosting platform provider, MIS Quarterly sought to enhance their digital offering and streamline the user experience. The Silverchair Platform’s robust suite of self-service tools will enable MIS Quarterly staff to manage the site, access controls, deposits, and more in a cost-effective, efficient, and user-friendly manner.

“Silverchair’s client community is comprised of a wide range of publishers, spanning disciplines, business models, and sizes, and we’re pleased to welcome MIS Quarterly to that cohort,” said Silverchair CEO Will Schweitzer. “Our new partnership will deliver not only state-of-the-art technology and added efficiencies, but also opportunities for collaboration with industry-leading peers.”

“MIS Quarterly is pleased to partner with Silverchair for its content delivery to all the scholars interested in the role of information systems and technologies in business and society,” said MIS Quarterly Publisher Alok Gupta. “We look forward to providing our authors and readers with an enhanced experience and presenting content with higher fidelity by integrating our content and associated media across different platforms in a cohesive manner.”

Clarivate Unveils Transformative Subscription-Based Access Strategy for Academia

Clarivate Plc, a leading global provider of transformative intelligence, today announced a new subscription-based content access strategy. The new approach breaks down barriers through broad and affordable access to highly curated, trusted academic resources, including Ebooks and primary digital collections, enabling every library to support research, teaching and learning goals.

The way institutions purchase books, journals and other content for their users has shifted in recent years, particularly post-pandemic. Increasingly, libraries are faced with complex buying models that do not offer the content they require to support curricula and research needs. Libraries continue to prioritize solutions that offer affordability in a sustainable way.

At the same time, AI-powered chatbots are becoming ubiquitous as a method of discovery for students and researchers. The ability of academic AI tools to deliver reliable outputs depends on access to broad, vetted academic content.

Bar Veinstein, President, Academia & Government at Clarivate said: “We’re addressing libraries’ evolving needs by breaking down barriers and delivering seamless access to our curated content. Our goal is to make learning and research more accessible and affordable at a large scale, unlocking opportunities for every library, in every classroom and at every research department.

“Through this transformative approach, we’re helping institutions connect end users with academic AI tools grounded in comprehensive curated content, reinforcing libraries’ essential role in upholding academic integrity and excellence.”

The new strategy includes the introduction of two market-leading solutions that are now available.

ProQuest Ebooks offers the world’s largest subscription of high-quality, multidisciplinary scholarly Ebooks, including:

  • Over 700,000 Ebooks, across 10 core disciplines, plus additional essential interdisciplinary titles, enabling librarians to meet the needs of their faculty and students with broad discovery and access to the Ebooks they need
  • A new Ebook Central Reader app to enable students to read and bookmark on the go
  • The addition of Ebook Central Research Assistant, a powerful new AI tool designed to enhance student learning and streamline research.

ProQuest Digital Collections offers subscription to unparalleled breadth, value and access to primary sources across a rich variety of content formats:

  • Over 160 million primary source items complemented by over 2,500 full-text scholarly journals, more than 24,000 video titles, and 15 million audio tracks. The subscription builds upon over 30 years of digitizing primary sources, including many rare and unique resources.
  • Broad and interdisciplinary in scope, the subscription provides access to nine ProQuest One discipline solutions including Anthropology, Entertainment & Popular Culture, Global Studies & International Relations, History, Literature, Performing Arts, Visual Arts & Design.
  • ProQuest Research Assistant will continue to help students and researchers use academic AI responsibly, rooted in trusted academic content. The research assistant will expand over time to fully support ProQuest Digital Collections.

As part of this transformative strategy and following changes in demand from libraries, Clarivate will also phase out one-time perpetual purchases of digital collections, print and digital books for libraries. These transitions will take place throughout 2025, in close co-operation with customers. For more details see our support page.

Veinstein said: “From the introduction of Ebook subscriptions to index-based linking and discovery, creating cloud-based library management systems and academic AI research assistants, we have a proven history of pioneering and collaborating at the forefront of the industry.

“We’re now embarking on a new era in how institutions and their users access and consume content. We are committed to working as closely as ever with libraries and publishers, providing the guidance and solutions needed to meet the evolving needs of the community.”

For more information on ProQuest Ebooks, see here.

For more information on ProQuest Digital Collections click here.

California Universities and Oxford University Press Sign Landmark Open Access Agreement

The 10-campus University of California system (UC), 20 of 23 California State University (CSU) campuses, and 30 private academic and research institutions represented by the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC) have reached a comprehensive four-year transformative open access agreement with Oxford University Press (OUP). The agreement begins this month and will provide affiliated researchers with access to OUP’s world-leading journals and support for publishing their work open access.

“This partnership between UC, CSU and SCELC demonstrates the power of collaboration across diverse institutions,” said Mark Hanna, Associate Professor of History at UC San Diego and chair of the UC faculty Academic Senate’s systemwide committee on library and scholarly communication. “By joining forces, we are advancing open access and amplifying the global impact of California’s scholarship. I’m excited to see this significant step forward, which reflects our shared commitment to creating a more accessible, equitable, and sustainable future for scholarly communication.”

This major agreement harnesses the resources of research institutions, private liberal arts colleges, comprehensive universities, and special libraries across California by redirecting existing library subscription funds to support authors publishing open access. The agreement enables authors at the participating institutions to publish articles using an open access license at reduced or no cost in more than 500 hybrid and fully open access OUP journals. Authors with grant funds available will pay a discounted open access publishing fee across OUP’s hybrid and fully open access journals. Authors who do not have grant funds available will be able to publish open access in hybrid journals at no cost to them. 

“As a catalyst for transformative change in scholarly communication, SCELC is dedicated to forging agreements that empower libraries and their researchers,” said Teri Oaks Gallaway, SCELC executive director. “By working with Oxford University Press, we are not only expanding access to high-impact research but also driving a more sustainable and equitable publishing future for our member institutions.”

Transformative agreements provide a way for institutions to maintain access to scholarly content available only through subscription, while supporting the transition to open access publishing by their affiliated researchers. Institutions are, in effect, redirecting their expenditures on subscriptions to cover the open access article publication charges. Through this agreement, thousands of researchers at 60 institutions will be eligible for financial support when they choose to publish open access in OUP journals.

“CSU libraries are delighted to provide our students and faculty with access to more OUP journals than ever before and the opportunity to openly publish their research,” said Ann Roll, Director of Systemwide Digital Library Content at the CSU Office of the Chancellor. “Through transformative and collaborative work with our partners at UC and SCELC, CSU research can be shared openly and CSU students will have the OUP resources they need for their success, all at a sustainable cost to CSU libraries.”

The aim of this transformative agreement is to make it easier and more affordable for authors from SCELC, CSU and UC institutions to publish open access rather than behind a paywall, while also controlling the participating institutions’ journal expenditures. Like other transformative agreements at UC, CSU and SCELC, this agreement aligns with the institutions’ missions and contributes to the global shift towards sustainable open access publishing by making more research and scholarship from California freely available to the world.

The agreement demonstrates how innovative, diverse, multi-institution cooperation can play a vital role in the open access movement by ensuring that researchers at academic institutions of all types can fully engage in the benefits of open access publishing.

“We are delighted to reach this agreement with the California universities,” said Alastair Lewis, Sales Director, OUP. “The negotiations for this agreement have been positive and constructive, and we are really excited to expand access to our world-leading journals and open access publishing across these universities.”

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