New Library-funded open access publishing options
The University of Chicago Library has been entering into transformative agreements—also known as Read and Publish agreements—that allow UChicago students, faculty, and staff to publish their research as open access without needing to pay article processing charges (APCs). These agreements, covering journals in many disciplines across the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, are part of the UChicago Library’s commitment to broad, open, and equitable access to research and publishing.
The Public Library of Science (PLOS) Agreement
UChicago Library’s latest agreement with PLOS and the BTAA (Big Ten Academic Alliance) provides Library-funded open access publishing options for all PLOS journals. This agreement applies to all University of Chicago faculty, students, and staff.
PLOS is a nonprofit publisher of twelve open access journals ranging from biology and medicine to climate and sustainability. Previously, our 2021 agreement allowed University of Chicago affiliates to publish in PLOS Biology and PLOS Medicine. As of April 1, 2022, affiliates can now publish an unlimited number of articles in all twelve journals without an open access publishing charge to authors. Articles are published with a CC-BY license. These journals include PLOS One, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Pathogens, PLOS Digital Health, PLOS Medicine, PLOS Biology, PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, PLOS Global Public Health, PLOS Climate, and PLOS Water.
The Cambridge University Press Agreement
The Library’s Read and Publish Agreement with Cambridge through the BTAA, provides Library-funded open access publishing in Cambridge Hybrid and Gold OA journals and 219 additional journals for faculty, students, and staff at UChicago Learn more at R&P Resources for Librarians.
As part of this agreement, the Library has gained access to 219 additional journals. These journals are included in the agreement so that faculty, students, and staff will have full open access publishing rights without needing to pay APCs.
The Wiley Agreement
The Wiley Agreement, reached through the BTAA, provides free open access publishing in Wiley hybrid journals for a limited number of faculty, students, and staff at the University of Chicago through December 31, 2022. Note that this agreement does not include open access publishing in Wiley’s gold open access journals.
Once all credits are used, UChicago authors are eligible for a 10% discount on APCs in any Wiley hybrid journal.
Learn More about Our Transformative Agreements
To date we have entered into six open-access, Library-funded agreements, including with ACS (American Chemical Society), Microbiology Society, PLOS, Royal Society, Cambridge, and Wiley.
More information is available from the Library website on Publisher Open Access Agreements and Other Open Access Initiatives. If you have any questions, please reach out to our Transformative Agreements Working Group at transformative-agreements@lib.uchicago.edu.
