Open Scholarship Toolkit
Director, Scholarly Impact
Open Access Agreements
Research libraries are increasingly entering into open access agreements (sometimes called transformative agreements, read-and-publish, or publish-and-read agreements) with academic publishers to allow affiliated authors to publish open access without paying article processing charges (APCs). Under this model, libraries pay publishers for access to a journal’s full content, as well as the right to make their researchers’ work open access, under a single contract and fee. If you have any questions about open access agreements, please contact your liaison librarian or the Scholarly Impact department.
Articles published through our Open Access agreements are listed in the UI Libraries Support Open Access collection in Iowa Research Online. Here are the open access agreements the UI Libraries has contracted so far:
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American Chemical SocietyUI corresponding authors can publish open access in ACS journals without paying APCs. Under this agreement, UI authors can publish a significant number of articles OA, but not an unlimited number.
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Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)Any UI corresponding author can publish open access in ACM journals without paying APCs.
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Biochemical SocietyThe agreement guarantees uncapped, fee-free open access (OA) publishing for UI corresponding authors, alongside full read access to all Biochemical Society journals.
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)There will be no APC for UI corresponding authors who publish open access in CUP’s gold (40 titles) and hybrid journals (330 titles).
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Cogitatio PressUI corresponding authors can publish in Cogitatio’s four journals without paying APCs. This announcement provides more detail.
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Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory PressUnlimited open access publishing in CSHLP journals by UI-affiliated corresponding authors, without payment of open access fees or Article Processing Charges (APCs).
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Company of BiologistsUI authors can publish open access in Company of Biologists' 5 journals without paying APCs.
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Electrochemical Society (ECS)UI authors can publish open access in ECS journals without paying APCs.
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Geological Society of LondonUnlimited open access publishing by University of Iowa-affiliated corresponding authors in GSL hybrid journals and book series without payment of Article Processing Charges (APCs).
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IEEECorresponding authors from the University of Iowa are now able to publish open access articles in all IEEE journals.
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Institute of Physics (IOP)UI corresponding authors can publish open access in IOP journals without paying APCs. Agreement is effective between Jan. 1, 2023 and Dec. 31, 2025.
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IWA PublishingUnlimited open access publishing by UI-affiliated corresponding authors, without payment of article processing charges (APCs), in all IWA Publishing journals.
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John BenjaminsUnlimited open access publishing by UI-affiliated corresponding authors in all John Benjamins active journals and yearbooks, without payment of Article Processing Charges (APCs).
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Microbiology SocietyArticles published in this society’s journals will be OA by default for UI corresponding authors without paying APCs.
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Oxford University Press (OUP)UI corresponding authors can publish open access in OUP's hybrid journals without paying APCs.
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Royal SocietyUI corresponding authors can publish OA in the society’s nine journals without paying APCs. Royal Society’s read and publish page contains more information.
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Royal Society of ChemistryCorresponding authors from the University of Iowa can publish an unlimited number of open access articles in RSC journals without paying APCs.
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SpringerUnlimited open access publishing without APCs for UI corresponding authors publishing in Springer’s hybrid journals portfolio.
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WileyThe agreement supports unlimited Open Access (OA) publishing in Wiley hybrid and gold OA journals, including those from Hindawi. UI corresponding authors may publish OA at no cost to themselves.
As of October 2024, the funding from these agreements has saved UI authors over $3.3 million!
APC Discounts
UI Libraries has also negotiated discounts on article processing charges (APCs) with certain publishers. If you have any questions about APC discounts, please contact your liaison librarian or the Scholarly Impact department. Here are the discount agreements we have on file:
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American Chemical Society (ACS)For ACS hybrid journals, discount varies by OA license and author's ACS membership status
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)$500 off the APC for UI corresponding authors.
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BioMedCentral (BMC) and Springer15% discount for UI corresponding authors publishing in BMC and Springer fully open access journals. (NOTE: Does not apply to any Nature Research, Palgrave, or Springer Nature hybrid open access (Open Choice) journals.)