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Publish Journal Articles Open Access: Publisher Deals

This guide contains information relevant to staff and students wanting to publish their journal articles Open Access.

The University of Reading has arrangements with many publishers that mean that staff and students can achieve Open Access for their publications automatically without the need to apply for funding or deal with invoices. Most of these arrangements are under Transformative/Transitional Agreements whereby publishers have committed to flip hybrid (subscription) journals to a fully Gold Open Access publishing model over time. 
Please check the terms of each deal carefully before you commit to publishing your article Open Access. 

General eligibility for publisher deals

How to ensure that you qualify for the publisher deals

In general, to qualify for most of the publisher deals it is essential that: 

  1. You are the corresponding author on the output at submission
  2. You declare your affiliation as the University of Reading
  3. You use your University of Reading email address in the submission

Please check the details of each deal carefully as some publishers include fully Open Access (pure gold) journals and some only include hybrid (subscription) journals. If you are unsure, contact the Open Access team in the Library.  

What if the journal you want to publish in is not included in a deal?

For UKRI-funded researchers, funding is available for publications in fully Open Access journals (pure gold) journals, subject to budget constraints. A condition of funding is that the journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals. You must apply for funding in advance of submission to fully Open Access (pure gold) journals in order to guarantee that the APC will be funded.
Funding for publications in some hybrid (subscription) journals may also be available. Please check with the Open Access requests team before committing to Open Access with the publisher. 

Check if your journal is covered by a deal

Enter the title of your chosen journal into the search box to find out if it is covered by any of our publisher deals. 

The SciFree tool includes thousands of journals from over 20 publishers that are included in transformative agreements. In most cases, if the journal you want to publish in is included in the list, you do not need to complete the open access request form. 

Deals may change so check each time you want to publish. 

If you have any queries about eligibility, please contact the Open Access requests team at oarequests@reading.ac.uk

Full details of the publisher agreements and how to qualify

Cartoon man leaning against a yellow letter i

 

How to use this section

 

First steps: A quick way to check if your journal is covered by a publisher agreement is to use our SciFree journal search tool as shown above. This should tell you if the journal is in a deal or whether you need to apply for funding from the Open Access team University of Reading. 

Checking using this list: The publisher agreements available to University of Reading researchers are listed alphabetically in the horizontal tabs to the right of this page. Each page gives details of the publications included in the deal, how to access the deal and any limitations. Not all of the publishers listed are part of a deal or agreement but are listed for information only (e.g. IEEE).
Please note that the terms of deals can change and new ones are being added and so it is worth re-checking this page before you submit to a publisher. 

Publisher not in this list?

If you have UKRI or British Heart Foundation funding, you may still be able to achieve gold Open Access for your article. Please check the 'Paying for Open Access' page in conjunction with this list. For any queries, please contact the Open Access requests team by email.

What do the symbols mean?

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it. This deal includes hybrid (subscription) journals from the publisher. The deal is open to all current students and staff at University of Reading. 

A blue box with the words Hybrid journals and Limited list with a black tick symbol This deal includes a limited list of hybrid (subscription) journals from this publisher and so you should check carefully to see if your chosen journal is included in the deal. The deal is open to all current students and staff at University of Reading. 

A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick This deal includes the publisher's fully Open Access (gold) journals. The deal is open to all current students and staff at University of Reading. 

 This deal includes a limited list of the publisher's fully Open Access (gold) journals and so you should check carefully to see if your chosen journal is included in the deal. The deal is open to all current students and staff at University of Reading.

This deal is only open for authors that have UKRI or BHF funding. If you are a grant holder, you must apply for funding before submitting to one of these journals as there is a limited grant available. If you have not applied for funding in advance, your request may be refused and the invoice may not be paid. 

American Chemical Society 

 

Publications covered by the deal 

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.

This deal covers both hybrid (subscription) and fully Open Access (pure gold) journal titles. 

The read and publish deal covers all ACS journals. There is no cap on the number of papers that can be published under the deal.

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission. Select The University of Reading from the drop down box at submission. 
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission. You must confirm that the institutional affiliation stated in the body of the manuscript is the corresponding author’s affiliation.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

Full instructions of each step of the process are given on the ACS website and there is also a video that outlines the process (link below). 

There is a confirmation step whereby the Open Access requests team at University of Reading are asked to approve the request for funding of the APC. This step is usually completed within 1-2 days and is simply a confirmation that the author is still affiliated with University of Reading. 

Full instructions of each step of the process are given on the ACS website and there is also a video that outlines the process (link below). 

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further information 

American Meteorological Society (AMS)

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

A pilot read and publish Transformative Agreement began in March 2023. The deal will run until 31 December 2024. There is no cap on the number of articles covered by the deal. 

The deal covers hybrid (subscription) and fully Open Access (pure gold) journals published by the Society. 

No page charges will be due for papers that qualify for the deal. Colour charges are not included and the Library is unable to fund these.  

The paper type must be 'Research Article'.

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission. 
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission. Select the correct affiliation using the dropdown menu in the AMS online manuscript submission process via Editorial Manager.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

There is no approval step for the deal, so it is particularly important that University of Reading corresponding authors make sure that they provide clear evidence of their affiliation at submission. 

Journals included in the deal

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CCBY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further information

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

 

Publications covered by the deal 

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

The deal includes all fully peer-reviewed research articles published in ACM's magazines, Conference Proceedings and journals. 

There are no limits to the number of articles that can be published under the deal. 

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading and use their institutional email address when submitting their work so that they are provided with the correct ACM Open eRights forms. 

The publisher will send an email notifying the corresponding author that they are eligible for the deal at the submission stage and also at the acceptance stage. 

At acceptance

The corresponding author will be sent a link to the eRights form. The ACM Open Edit screen will indicate that the paper is part of the ACM Open Program. The corresponding author should check that all the information is correct. The Erights form will default to the Institutionally paid open rights option with a CCBY 4.0 licence. This should not be changed and the author should agree to the most open CCBY Creative Commons licence.

 ACM CCBY Licence Options

After the licence has been selected, click on proceed and then complete the remaining fields (including your funder, if applicable). Once the form is submitted the corresponding author will receive email confirmation of the acceptance of the forms and a copy for their records. 

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further Information

Cambridge University Press

The deal applies for qualifying outputs that are accepted between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2024.

Publications covered by the deal

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

The deal includes hybrid (subscription) and fully Open Access (pure gold) journals. A full list of the journals included in the deal is available on the CUP Read and Publish deal web page (link below).

Eligible article types are research articles, review articles and rapid communications, brief reports and case reports.

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At acceptance

On acceptance of your article, the publisher will alert you to the fact that a deal exists with your institution.

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further Information

Company of Biologists

 

Publications covered by the deal 

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

The Read and Publish deal with the Company of Biologists covers their 3 hybrid (subscription) journals and 2 fully Open Access (pure gold) journals: 

  • Development
  • Journal of Cell Science
  • Journal of Experimental Biology
  • Disease Models & Mechanisms
  • Biology Open

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 
  4. If you are submitting to Development, Journal of Cell Science or Journal of Experimental Biology, you should follow the on-screen instructions and be sure to select “Gold Open Access” and “Read & Publish fee waiver”. This step is not required for submissions to the fully Open Access journals Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open.

At acceptance

If your paper is accepted you should complete the Publication Agreement in the Bench>Press author area. The publisher will then send you a link to the RightsLink system and an automatic fee waiver will be applied. You should select 'Seek funding from University of Reading' and then click 'next'. This should take you to the sign in page for the publisher's RightsLink Open Access system. If you already have an account, log in; if not you need to create an account. Once signed in you should be able to review the details, approve the terms and conditions and select 'Submit for approval'. 

The University of Reading Open Access team will be asked to approve the request. You will then receive an email confirming that you are eligible for free Open Access publishing under the terms of the deal. You will receive a proof of your article and the final approved version will be published under a CC BY licence. 

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further information 

Elsevier 

The deal started in March 2022 and is effective for articles that are accepted between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2024.

For journals that have 'flipped' from hybrid (subscription) models to fully Open Access (pure gold) during the duration of the deal, they will still be covered as if they were still a hybrid. Examples of journals that fall into this category will be added below:
 Agricultural Water Management - Flipped to Open Access in January 2023.  

Publications covered

A blue box with the words Hybrid journals and Limited list with a black tick symbol

Important. You must check the journal model before you submit.

Authors without UKRI or British Heart Foundation funding 

If you do not have UKRI, British Heart Foundation or Wellcome funding, you cannot publish in any of the fully Open Access journals unless you have the means to pay the APC - there is no funding from the Library.  
Elsevier's hybrid (subscription) journals are included in the deal but you must check that your chosen journal is included. Elsevier have provided a look up tool on their website so you can check if the journal in which you wish to publish is covered by the deal and find participating journals in particular subject areas. Contact oarequests@reading.ac.uk if you are not sure if your chosen journal will be covered by the deal. 

UKRI/BHF-funded authors publishing in fully Open Access (pure gold) journals 

Elsevier also has a number of fully Open Access (pure gold) journals. Under the terms of the JISC deal, corresponding authors at University of Reading will be eligible for a 15% discount on the APC. The Library can now only pay the APC for authors who are funded by the UK research councils or the British Heart FoundationYou must apply for funding using the funding request form in advance of submitting to one of these journals. If you do not apply in advance, your APC may not be paid by the Library and you will have to find an alternative means of paying the invoice. A link to the Open Access request form is provided below. 

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At acceptance

Hybrid (subscription) journals

You will receive an email containing a link to the “post-acceptance author journey”. Upon selecting the Open Access publishing option, your affiliation will be validated by the Open Access requests team at University of Reading, and you will be informed if the APC will be covered by the agreement. A series of screenshots and a video are available in the links below. If you do not choose the CCBY 4.0 licence, approval of your request may be delayed. 

UKRI/BHF-funded authors publishing in fully Open Access (pure gold) journals

Once your paper is accepted, you will be directed to the publisher's rights and access pages. You need to confirm your affiliation and funding and also that of your coauthors (if applicable). The 15% discount should be shown on the Gold Open Access screen. You should request an invoice using the 'Invoice an Organisation' from the appropriate screen. Please add the purchase order number supplied to you by the Open Access requests team to the invoice at this stage. If you need the University of Reading VAT number, please contact the Open Access requests team. The Open Access requests team will be asked to approve the discounted invoice. Please send any invoices to oarequests@reading.ac.uk as soon as you receive them and payment will be completed by the Library.

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Limitations 

Colour charges are not included in the deal. These will not be paid from University funds or the UKRI block grant. You will need to find alternative sources of funds to cover these if the journal you are publishing in has colour charges and you take up this option. 

Not all Elsevier journals are included in the deal. Please use their journal checker to make sure you have selected a journal included in the deal. 

In 2025 Elsevier will take over 3 journals from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. These will not be included in the Read and Publish deal. 
  • Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
  • Molecular Pharmacology
  • Pharmacological Reviews

Further Information 

European Respiratory Society 

This deal will run until 31/12/2024. 

Publications covered 

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

The read and publish deal covers original research articles, research letters, correspondence articles, ERJ methods articles and review articles. 

  • European Respiratory Journal
  • ERJ Open Research
  • European Respiratory Review

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further information 

IEEE publications

There are currently no deals available with the IEEE for University of Reading authors.

IEEE have announced that they will allow UKRI-funded authors to use the 'route 2' option in order to comply with their funder's policy. This means that authors may deposit the Author’s Accepted Manuscript in an institutional or subject repository at the time of final publication with no delay or embargo period. The deposited version will have a CC BY licence. UKRI-funded authors must use the standard recommended text at submission: ‘For the purpose of open access, the author(s) has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising’.

UKRI-funded authors

For papers submitted or or after 1 April 2022, only IEEE's fully Open Access (pure gold) journals that are listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) will give a publication route that is compliant with the UKRI's Open Access policy. See the list below under Further information. The APCs for these fully Open Access (pure gold) journals can be covered by the UKRI block grant. Apply for funding using the Open Access funding request form at the point of submission (link below). 

The UKRI block grant cannot be used to fund Open Access in any of IEEE's hybrid (subscription) journals as they are not 'Transformative Journals' according to JISC. In May 2022, IEEE announced that they would allow UKRI funded authors to comply with their funder's OA policy by using the 'route 2' option. Authors who need to have a CC BY licence on their manuscript have to make a request to IEEE at the point of submission. Submissions should also include the recommended route 2 wording in the acknowledgement section of the paper and in a cover note accompanying the submission. 

Non-funded authors 

Authors with no funding are unable to submit to the fully Open Access (pure gold) titles unless they can fund the APC themselves. No funding is available from the Library. Authors are able to publish in the hybrid (subscription) titles but are not able to opt for Open Access unless they can fund the APC themselves. 

Information last updated 9/01/2024

Further Information 

Institute of Physics (IOP) publishing 

This deal is active until 31 December 2025. 

There is no cap on the number of articles that can be published under the terms of the deal. 

The deal applies to all primary research article types as well as reviews, letters, papers and special issue articles.

IOP publishing has 96 journals in the field of physics and related subjects. 

Publications included in the deal 

A blue box with the words Hybrid journals and Limited list with a black tick symbol

The read and publish agreement applies to:

  • a list of hybrid (subscription) journals referred to as List A and List B
  • an additional 18 fully Open Access (pure gold) titles referred to as List D.

For a full list of eligible journals, visit the publisher website (see link below). 

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

If your article is identified as eligible for funding under the terms of the read and publish deal, you will be notified during the peer-review process or shortly after acceptance. Your paper will automatically be opted in to open access. 

At Acceptance

If you have not been alerted to the Open Access deal before your article is accepted, please contact the journal to ensure that your work is included in the arrangement.

Licence to publish

  The CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences will be automatically applied to your article by the publisher. Do not change this default option. 

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Limitations

University of Reading has not included the Electrochemical Society journals in the read and publish deal. This decision was based an analysis of previous publishing practices of our staff and students. The deal does not include journals published on behalf of the society's partners, American Astronomical Society, Astro Ltd or Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 

 

Further information 

International Water Association Publishing (IWAP)

The IWA publishes 15 peer-reviewed journals, including five fully Open Access (pure gold) titles, on topics related to water, sanitation, water use and reuse, climate change and water resources and sustainable delivery of water to emerging cities.

Publications included in the deal

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

A full list of the IWA journals is available on the publisher's webpage (see link below).

There is no cap on the number of articles that can by published through the deal.

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission. Make sure that your affiliation information is up to date in Editorial Manager before you submit.
  3. Include your institutional affiliation on your manuscript at submission.
  4. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

Queries on eligibility and how to make sure that your affiliation is recognised can be sent to publications@iwap.co.uk. 

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further information 

John Benjamins

A Read and Publish agreement with John Benjamins began on 30 January 2024.

Publications included in the deal

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.

This agreement applies to 87 hybrid journals and covers research articles.

The publisher also has two Diamond (no fee) fully Open Access journals. 

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At acceptance

On acceptance of your article, the publisher will alert you to the JISC deal and that Reading is a member.

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further information 

Microbiology Society

The Microbiology Society is a not-for-profit publisher that uses surpluses from the journal publishing programme to fund Society activities. 

Publications covered by the deal 

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

There is no cap on the number of publications.

The Publish and Read deal covers the Microbiology Society's 4 hybrid (subscription) journals and 2 fully Open Access (pure gold) titles

  • Microbiology
  • Journal of Medical Microbiology
  • Journal of General Virology
  • International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 
  • Access Microbiology
  • Microbial Genomics

How to access the deal 

Eligibility for the deal is determined by the affiliation of the corresponding author.

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

You should select 'Yes' when asked 'Do you wish to publish Open Access'. You should click on 'View publication charges' to confirm your eligibility. 

At acceptance

On acceptance of your article, the corresponding author will receive an email with a link to request funding from their institution. Following approval the corresponding author will receive an email confirming that the article is covered by the Publish and Read deal. The author's institution will be acknowledged on the first page of the article as having provided Open Access.

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

The CC BY 4.0 licence will be offered by default and must be chosen by the author. If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Limitations 

The deal will only be offered to submissions where the corresponding author has declared their affiliation as University of Reading. 

 

Further information 

Nature and Nature Research titles 

Check that the APC will be covered before submission as the APCs for these journals are expensive.

Publications included in the deal

A blue box with the words Hybrid journals and Limited list with a black tick symbol

Fully Open Access (pure gold) journals

UKRI/BHF funded authors only: A discount on the APC for fully Open Access (pure gold) titles is available and the APC may be covered by the UKRI/BHF block grants. You must apply for funding in advance of submission using the Open Access request form (link below).

Hybrid Journals covered by the deal

The agreement with Springer covers a specified list of Nature Research hybrid (subscription) journals. Please see below for the eligible titles. 

Nature
Nature Aging
Nature Astronomy
Nature Biomedical Engineering
Nature Biotechnology
Nature Cancer
Nature Cardiovascular Research
Nature Catalysis
Nature Cell Biology
Nature Chemical Biology
Nature Chemistry
Nature Climate Change
Nature Computational Science
Nature Ecology & Evolution
Nature Electronics
Nature Energy
Nature Food
Nature Genetics
Nature Geoscience
Nature Human Behaviour
Nature Immunology
Nature Machine Intelligence
Nature Materials
Nature Medicine
Nature Mental Health
Nature Metabolism
Nature Methods
Nature Microbiology
Nature Nanotechnology
Nature Neuroscience
Nature Photonics
Nature Physics
Nature Plants
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Nature Sustainability
Nature Synthesis
Nature Water

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission. 
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission. 
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 
  4. Declare any funding at the submission stage. 

At acceptance

On acceptance of your article, the publisher will alert you to the JISC deal and that Reading is a member. The Open Access requests team will be asked to confirm eligibility. 

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences. 

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further information 

Oxford University Press (OUP)

The deal is valid until 31/12/2025.

Publications included in the deal 

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

This read and publish deal includes over 400 hybrid (subscription) and fully Open Access (pure gold) journals. A full list of the journals included is available on the publisher's website (see link below).

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At acceptance

When an article is accepted the corresponding author will receive an email with a link to the publisher's licencing and payment system. The corresponding author must choose the CC BY 4.0 creative commons licence.

  • The corresponding author will be asked to confirm that they will pay the Open Access charge but this will not be necessary when the institution confirms that the author is eligible for the read and publish deal.
  • Proceed to the payment section and select 'UK institutions (Jisc affiliated) on the article charges page.
  • Tick the 'refer charge' box next to the Open Access charge and then click 'refer charges' at the bottom of the page.
  • On the 'confirm address' section, fill in the required information. if you did not have any funding, please enter N/A in the relevant box. You will also be asked to provide a short statement to support your request. Reaffirming your University of Reading affiliation may be sufficient here. Click proceed and then click on 'Complete Referral'. 
  • At this point a confirmation email will be sent by the publisher. Once the verification step has been completed by the Open Access requests team, the corresponding author will receive a confirmation email. 

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Limitations 

Page charges or colour charges are not included in the read and publish deal. If you incur any page or colour charges you will need to pay these from departmental funds.  

Further information

PeerJ

PeerJ is a fully Open Access (pure gold) peer-reviewed, scholarly journal for research articles in the biological and medical sciences.

Publications covered by the deal 

A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

PeerJ publishes 7 fully Open Access journals: 

  • PeerJ Life & Environment
  • PeerJ Computer Science
  • PeerJ Physical Chemistry 
  • PeerJ Materials Science
  • PeerJ Analytical Chemistry
  • PeerJ Organic Chemistry
  • PeerJ Inorganic Chemistry

The institutional publishing plan with PeerJ covers articles arising from any source of funding. It provides basic membership publishing plans for authors, allowing authors to publish one article per year for life in PeerJ, with no cost to themselves.

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At acceptance

On acceptance the publisher should recognise that you are eligible for the deal based on your institutional email address and should process the payment automatically via our institutional fund. If this does not happen automatically, Reading affiliated authors should use the University of Reading institutional page on the PeerJ website to submit a claim for a Basic Membership and complete the email verification. There is then an approval step via the University of Reading Open Access team.

Please note that the plan only covers Reading authors, if you have coauthors at other institutions, they may have to organise their own payments - contact the Open Access requests team for further advice. 

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Portland Press

A Read and Publish arrangement is in place with Portland Press. This deal will run until 31/12/2025.

Publications covered by the deal 

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

The deal covers 5 hybrid (subscription) and 2 fully Open Access (pure gold) journals.

Hybrid (subscription) journals: 

  • Biochemical Journal
  • Emerging Topics in Life Sciences
  • Clinical Science
  • Biochemical Society Transactions
  • Essays in Biochemistry

Fully Open Access (pure gold) journals:

  •  Neuronal Signaling
  •  Bioscience Reports

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

The corresponding author will be notified by the publisher that they qualify for the Open Access deal either at the acceptance (hybrid (subscription) journals) or the submission (fully Open Access (pure gold) journals) stage.

At acceptance

For hybrid (subscription) journals the corresponding author will be notified that they qualify for the Open Access deal. There is no approval stage from the corresponding author's institution.

Licence to publish

  You must choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further Information

Public Library of Science (PLOS)

 

Publications included in the deal 

This deal covers articles where the corresponding author is from University of Reading authors and is uncapped.  

The read and publish deal covers only the following PLOS titles:

  • PLOS Biology
  • PLOS Computational Biology
  • PLOS Digital Health
  • PLOS Genetics
  • PLOS Medicine
  • PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
  • PLOS ONE
  • PLOS Pathogens
  • PLOS Sustainability and Transformation

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At acceptance

If the paper is accepted the Open Access requests team will be asked to verify the author is a current staff member or student. Once this is confirmed, the paper will be published Open Access. 

Licence to publish

  You must choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Limitations 

There is no cap on the number of APCs available under the deal. The deal only applies to the PLOS titles listed above. If you would like to publish in one of their other journals and you are funded by UKRI or BHF, you will need to complete the Open Access request form at the submission stage (link below). 

Further information

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

A read and publish arrangement covers all the society's hybrid (subscription) journals. The deal runs until 31/12/2024.

Publications included in the deal 

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.

All staff and students at University of Reading can publish Open Access in the Society's hybrid (subscription) journals. 

Fully Open Access (pure gold) journals

UKRI or BHF-funded authors may apply for funds to publish in the society's fully Open Access (pure gold) journals. A 15% discount on the APC will be applied as part of the deal. Apply before submission using the Open Access request form (link below).

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At acceptance

On acceptance of your article, the publisher will alert you to the fact that a deal exists with your institution.

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Limitations 

Please note that no additional charges such as reprints or cover artwork are covered by the deal. 

Further Information

SAGE Journals

The deal with SAGE will run until 31/12/2024. 

SAGE Publications publishes 1,101 journals in the social sciences, humanities and life sciences - 828 on a hybrid (subscription) basis and 81 fully Open Access (pure gold) titles. Over 300 are published on behalf of 250 learned societies and institutions. 

There are different rules for subscription (hybrid) and fully Open Access (pure gold) journals under our arrangements with this publisher. Make sure that you check the publishing model of the journal before you submit

Publications covered by the deal

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it. 

Most authors will only be able to publish in the hybrid (subscription) journals under the terms of the deal.

UKRI or BHF-funded authors are able to publish in the fully Open Access (pure gold) journals included in the deal but must submit an Open Access funding request before submission (link below). 

Check the model of the journal and then find the relevant advice below.

How to access the deal for hybrid (subscription) journals

The Read and Publish deal with SAGE means that authors can publish Open Access without limits in the SAGE Premier, IMechE and RSM hybrid (subscription) journal collections. This applies to original research papers, review papers, brief communications, short reports and case reports. 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At acceptance

The publisher will contact all eligible authors to inform them of the Open Access agreement and invite them to the SAGE Open Access Portal to take up the offer as soon as their accepted article has been received into SAGE’s Production department. All authors need to complete the steps to sign SAGE’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. SAGE still requires this agreement for your article to proceed to production at SAGE. Through the SAGE Open Access Portal, you will automatically receive an Open Access Contributor’s Agreement that will replace the earlier signed agreement.

It is essential that you provide correct affiliation details so that the publisher can identify you as belonging to an eligible institution. The Open Access requests team will be asked to verify your affiliation to University of Reading. 

A step by step guide is provided by the publisher on the Open Access portal (link below). 

Licence to publish

  You must choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

How to access the deal for fully Open Access (pure gold) journals

Only UKRI and BHF-funded authors are eligible for payment of APCs by the Library. You must apply for funding before you submit your manuscript to ensure that the budget has sufficient funds. Apply for funding via the Open Access request form (linked below).
For SAGE fully Open Access (pure gold) journals a 20% discount on the APC will apply as part of this deal.

In order to qualify for the discount: 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At acceptance

If your article is accepted the invoice for the APC will be handled through the RightsLink portal for most journals. The discount code JISC2020 must be added in the RightsLink portal to qualify for the reduced APC. Full instructions will be given by the Open Access requests team when you apply for funding. A step-by-step guide is also available on the SAGE Open Access portal (link below).

Licence to publish

  You must choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Springer

The deal with Springer will run until 31/12/2025. The deal combines Springer, Palgrave, Macmillan and Nature Research Titles into one Read and Publish agreement. See the Nature tab in the publishers list to find the details of the Nature titles included in the deal. A full list of the journals covered by the deal is available on the Springer Nature website by following the links in the Further Information section below. 

Publications covered by the deal 

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.

The Springer Compact transitional agreement covers around 2,051 hybrid (subscription) journals. A full list of the publications included in the deal is available on the publisher's website (see link below). 

The article types covered by the agreement are: 

  • Original paper
  • Review paper
  • Brief communication
  • Continuing education

How to access the deal 

  1. The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

If you have UKRI or other funding, it is very important to declare this at the submission stage. Should the funding for the deal run out, the publisher should allow funded authors to use other routes to make the paper compliant with their funder's policies. 

At acceptance

On acceptance of your article, the Open Access requests team at University of Reading will be asked to confirm the eligibility of the corresponding author. Once approved, you will be notified by the publisher and your article will proceed to publication. You do not need to fill in the APC funding request form to use this deal.

Licence to publish

  You must choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further Information

Taylor and Francis

The deal will run until 31 December 2025. 

Publications included in the deal

A blue square with the words Hybrid journals and a tick on it.A yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

The read and publish deal includes 2,300 subscription (hybrid) Taylor and Francis and Routledge journals that are part of the Open Select collection. Open Select journals should have an indicator at the top of the journal home page that reads 'Publish Open Access in this journal' in gold type. 

For 2024-2025, the deal also includes fully Open Access (pure gold) titles and sites such as F1000Research and Routledge Open Research. Authors who do not have external funding may publish in these journals at no cost under the terms of the deal. 

How to access the deal 

Paper types included are original research articles such as articles, reviews, case reports, short communications, reports etc. Other types of paper, such as Editorials, Announcements and Book Reviews are not covered by this agreement.

  • The corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  • The corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  • The corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At acceptance

When your article is accepted for publication, you should receive an email asking you to start the publisher’s agreement process. This will include reviewing your Open Access options.

Once you reach the open access tab, if you correctly provided your affiliation at the submission stage you should now see the option to opt into an Open Access agreement. You will also have the option to change your affiliation if this is incorrect.

During the agreement process you will also be given the option to sign a Creative Commons licence. You must choose the CC BY 4.0 licence.

Once you have completed the author publishing agreement, you will receive confirmation that the article details have been sent to your organisation.

This will prompt a notification to be sent to the Open Access requests team, where the funds will be approved if the corresponding author is a current member of staff or a student. We will get in touch with you at this stage to inform you that we have approved the funds or ask for further details.

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.


If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further Information

Wiley 

The Wiley deal will run until 31/12/2025. There are two separate agreements to cover the hybrid (subscription) journals and the fully Open Access (pure gold) journals. Wiley may halt the fully Open Access (pure gold) deal if a national cap is reached before the end of the agreement. 

Publications included in the deal 

A blue box with the words Hybrid journals and Limited list with a black tick symbolA yellow box with the words open access journals and a tick

You must be publishing in a fully Open Access (pure gold) or hybrid (subscription) journal that offers Open Access. Primary research and review articles are included in the deal. Full lists of the fully Open Access (pure gold) and hybrid (subscription) journals included in the deal are given on the publisher webpage (see link below). 

If you are submitting to a hybrid (subscription) journal, you must order Open Access at the point of acceptance of your article. 

How to access the deal 

  1. The responsible corresponding author of the output must be based at University of Reading at submission.
  2. The responsible corresponding author must declare their affiliation as University of Reading at submission.
  3. The responsible corresponding author should use their University of Reading email address as the primary contact email address if possible. 

At the submission stage the corresponding author will be asked to log into the Author Services area and confirm the author roles on the article. Although you can designate more than one corresponding author in the Wiley system, there can only be one responsible corresponding author for each publication. The responsible corresponding author will be expected to complete the remaining steps in the Author Services area and will have to choose the Open Access options and sign the licence. It is not possible to change these roles so consider the allocation of roles carefully to make sure that you qualify for the Open Access deal. 

It is also important to declare any funding at the submission stage. You should do this in your manuscript and also add this to the funding information questions in the manuscript submission system. 

Fully Open Access (pure gold) journals
During submission, select the payment option that says "The Corresponding Author's institution/funder has an agreement with Wiley". You should then follow the instructions to find and enter the account code for University of Reading. This will trigger an approval step from the Open Access requests team. When your request is approved, you will receive a confirmation email. Your accepted article will then be published Open Access with a creative commons licence. You should choose the CC BY 4.0 version of the licence. 

In April 2023, Wiley announced that page and colour charges had been eliminated from all of its fully Open Access (pure gold) journals. 

At acceptance

Hybrid (subscription) journals 

When your article is accepted, visit the Author Services webpage. Under 'My articles' look for the newly accepted article and select 'Manage Article'. There should be a message from your institution or funder alerting you to the Open Access deal. You should 'Select Open Access' at this point. The next step is to confirm any funding you have received. Once you have completed this section, you will be asked to confirm the affiliation that you added during the submission process. When prompted, choose 'Yes, make my article Open Access'. The Open Access requests team will then be asked to confirm your eligibility for the deal. When your request is approved you will receive a confirmation email and your article will be published Open Access with a Creative Commons licence. You should choose the CC BY 4.0 version of the licence. 

Limitations 

For some years the JISC read and publish deal with Wiley has been so popular with institutions across the UK that it has had to be restricted part way through the year. This has not happened for the last 2 years but it is possible that the deal may have to be restricted to cover only authors in receipt of funding from the UKRI and a group of other funders such as British Heart Foundation, Wellcome Trust etc. It is very important that authors declare any UKRI or similar funding to the publisher at the point of submission. This will enable the publisher to identify relevant publications should the deal have to be restricted again later in 2024. 

Some hybrid (subscription) journals still carry page and colour charges that are not covered by the publisher deal. The majority of these will waive colour and page charges when an APC is being paid. However, authors should check the author guidelines carefully. Page and colour charges will not be funded by the Library. 

Licence to publish

  You should choose the CC BY version of the Creative Commons licences.

 

If you choose a more restrictive licence, your request may be denied or delayed.

Further Information