As part of the University of Illinois System, UIC is entering into a five-year Read and Publish agreement with Elsevier, effective January 2024. While maintaining the university’s current reading access to Elsevier’s large portfolio of journals, this contract also includes a pilot program that allows university affiliates to publish open access (OA) in Elsevier’s core hybrid journals at no extra cost. Why a pilot? Although we believe it is a strong agreement that provides many benefits to the university, there are also limitations to this particular deal, and Read and Publish as a model has many long-term unknowns.
How to take advantage of the agreement
Opting in is integrated into the acceptance process. When an article is accepted for publication, any corresponding author affiliated with UIC will be asked if they want to opt in to publish OA with no Article Processing Charge (APC), or OA fee. Requests will be approved on a first come, first served basis.
Limitations to Elsevier’s Read and Publish agreement
Not all journals are included. Only Elsevier’s core hybrid journals are eligible for APC-free OA publication under the agreement. Specialty journals, such as Cell and Lancet, are not covered and APCs for Gold, or fully OA, journals have a 15% discount.
The number of APC waivers is limited. The number of articles eligible for APC waivers will gradually increase to keep up with expected demand. However, there is always the chance that they could run out. In that case, authors may still publish a paywalled article in the same journal or use grant funds to cover the cost of the APC.
Limitations to the Read and Publish model
Read and Publish is not a universal path to open access. Although UIC Library supports opportunities for faculty to publish OA, not every publisher offers Read and Publish or offers it in a way that is financially sustainable. The model also excludes many researchers at institutions that cannot afford the cost of such an agreement.
Read and Publish is a transitional model. Read and Publish was always intended as a temporary model to help libraries, authors, and publishers to transition to a more fully open publishing environment. Models to support the cost of scholarly publishing may look very different five years from now.
What happens after a Read and Publish deal ends
Publishers that have fully transitioned to open access may charge APCs to publish in their journals. While the university may be able to provide some financial support similar to what was previously spent on subscriptions, the form that this may take is unknown.
Where publishers have not fully transitioned to open access, authors who publish in these hybrid journals will still be able to make their articles open access, but authors will once again be responsible for the APC. As always, authors have the option to deposit their pre-publication, peer-reviewed author accepted manuscript in an open access repository such as UIC’s INDIGO for free, to provide broad dissemination and access.
Further information on open access and the library’s other Read and Publish agreements can be found on the library website.