On this page:
“Transitional agreements are intended to ensure that the financial impact to UKHE of a transition to full and immediate open access will be minimal.”
Publishers' OA Agreements: Understanding the Terminology
- Many established scholarly publishers are transforming their business model for journals from 'pay-to-read' to 'pay-to-publish'.
- These publishers typically invoice the author for an article processing charge (APC) when a paper is accepted, to compensate for the projected loss of subscriber income when a paper is published with 'gold' open access.
- Some publishers also impose a submission charge (to cover the cost of peer review), or production charges (such as excess pages or colour figures). These are unconnected to the open access status of the article. Payment of any such charges is the responsibility of the author.
- Through Jisc, UK university libraries have reached transitional agreements (TAs) with some publishers, to repurpose former subscription fees as APC waivers, enabling free open access publishing in their 'hybrid' (partly-paywalled) journals.
- 'Fully gold' open access journals are typically (although not always) excluded from TAs, because their business model has never depended on subscriptions.
- Publishers who don't offer a TA may allow institutions to set up a prepayment account to pay APCs as they are incurred, although these are less common than they were.
- Some open access publishers who have never relied on subscription income offer an 'institutional membership' model, whereby a financial commitment to contribute to the journal's running costs guarantees authors free or discounted publishing.
- A number of research funders, scholarly societies and academic institutions have launched their own open access journals, financially supported by the parent organisation. This is known as 'diamond' open access: free to read and free to publish in.
- Many well-established journals still operate on a 'hybrid' basis: authors who are unable to benefit from an institutional agreement or pay the APC from their own research budget can publish for free, but their article will be paywalled (access for subscribers only).
- The vast majority of scholarly publishers permit authors of paywalled papers to self-archive their 'accepted manuscript' in an institutional or subject-based repository: 'green' open access. This enables the author to comply with REF or research funder criteria for open access, providing specific conditions are met.
A new tool for UK authors, to quickly check whether a specific journal is included in one of your institution's agreements.
- Search for any journal by title or ISSN. Navigate to the entry for the journal concerned.
- Choose the Transitional Agreement Look-up tab. Select your institution University of Hull.
- Check agreement. If a Transitional Agreement is in place, you can publish your paper with Open Access. without incurring an article processing charge.
NB. The University of Hull's support for open access publishing with SAGE is not a 'transitional agreement', and not covered by the Jisc Open Policy Finder. More information in the publishers' index below.
If your target journal is not covered by a transitional agreement, your research funder may provide support for costs associated with open access publishing.
Publisher-Specific Agreements for University of Hull Authors
University of Hull has joined the Jisc-mediated ACM OPEN agreement, for unlimited open access publishing in the ACM Digital Library until 31 Dec 2025. Hull corresponding authors (identified by their email address) will be automatically granted an OA fee waiver for all ACM Proceedings and ACM Journals, whether 'fully gold' or 'hybrid', with a CC-BY licence by default.
More information about the ACM approach to Open Access publishing.
The University of Hull is a participant in the American Institute of Physics current Read & Publish' agreement with UKHEIs. Our authors can publish open access research articles in AIP 'hybrid' (subscription) journals free of charge, until a national cap is reached.
Only the Corresponding Author is eligible. Choose the 'Author Select' submission pathway, and identify your institutional affiliation.
Note that some AIP journals (for instance, JASA) charge a page fee for open access papers with excess pages, and this fee is the responsibility of the author where incurred.
Other scientific societies' journals published under the AIP banner are excluded from this agreement, as are Physics Today and the AIP's six fully open access journals.
Under the terms of BMJ's Open Access Agreement with the UK Jisc Consortium, any paper with a Hull corresponding author which acknowledges funding from the UK Research Councils or a participating charitable funder is eligible for Open Access in 34 'hybrid' journals in the BMJ Group. Funders include Wellcome Trust, British Heart Foundation, Blood Cancer UK, Cancer Research UK, Parkinsons UK or Versus Arthritis.
Journals covered by the agreement include BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care, British Journal of Sports Medicine, Evidence-Based Nursing, Heart, Injury Prevention, and Thorax.
For the full details of funders and journals covered by the agreement, start from the Information for Authors, scroll down to Find out if you are entitled to institutional funding, and select Institution = University of Hull.
Eligible papers accepted for these titles will be published with a CC-BY licence immediately, until a national cap is reached, at no cost to the author or their institution.
The BMJ itself, and other fully open access journals from this publisher, are excluded from this agreement.
Hull authors who are not eligible for the pilot can take advantage of the BMJ self-archiving policy for ‘non-open access’ articles: deposit your 'accepted manuscript' in Worktribe immediately, so that it can be made open without embargo in Repository@Hull, with a CC-BY-NC licence.
University of Hull is a participant in the Elsevier-UK Institutions agreement mediated by Jisc.
Hull corresponding authors can publish unlimited open access research papers in over 2000 participating 'hybrid' journals (part-paywalled). Hybrid titles published under the Cell Press and Lancet imprints are covered by this agreement (although review papers n these titles are excluded). Based on your University of Hull affiliation, your paper will be automatically selected for open access.
Some of the professional and scholarly society journals published by Elsevier are excluded from this agreement, as the society's financial position is dependent on subscriber/author income. Check the list of participating journals before you choose the open access route when publishing in a society title.
Although Elsevier's 1000+ 'fully gold' open access journals are excluded from this agreement, participating institutions receive a 15% discount on the article processing charge.
University of Hull corresponding authors can publish an unlimited number of open access papers without paying an article processing charge in the Institute of Physics' 13 'fully gold' open access titles, as well as 42 'hybrid' journals and 12 society journals published under the IoP banner. Papers published under the terms of the agreement are assigned a CC-BY licence.
See Eligible Journals Lists A-D for the full catalogue of titles covered by the agreement, or check the terms for any specific title.
American Astronomical Society titles, and a few other scholarly society journals published under the IoP banner are excluded from the agreement.
Be aware that any additional charges such as page fees and colour figures are not covered by this agreement.
This publisher determines eligibility for the APC waiver based on the article's date of acceptance, not submission. If you are not confident that a final decision on your paper will be made before the expiry of the current agreement on 31 Dec 2025, ensure that you have your own means of payment for any open access charges incurred, or that your journal offers a route to publication which does not incur a charge.
University of Hull is a participant in the MDPI Institutional Open Access Program, which entitles our authors to a 20% discount on the standard processing charge for articles and books (whether or not they are the corresponding author).
Payment of the invoice is the responsibility of the author(s).
April 2024: University of Hull has joined the Read and Publish agreement with OUP, mediated by Jisc for UK institutions.
All research articles and case reports with a Hull corresponding author will automatically be offered free open access publishing in over 350 'hybrid' (partly-paywalled) OUP journals, plus 127 'fully gold' Open Access journals. Download the spreadsheet of titles covered here.
A CC-BY licence is offered by default; authors can choose a different Creative Commons licence if preferred. A guide to the author workflow in OUP's SciPris article submission system.
Any scholarly society titles joining OUP in 2025 may not be included in this agreement. Check the guidance for authors for the journal concerned.
PeerJ publishes 7 peer-reviewed STEM journals. Our mission is to efficiently publish the world's knowledge. We do this through Internet-scale innovation and Open Access licensing.
The University Library has opened a PeerJ prepayment account to support Lifetime Basic Individual Membership for Hull authors, allowing the publication of one article per year without article processing charges. All authors must be members in order to benefit.
Funding for individual memberships is available on a first-come, first served basis. Create an account with your University of Hull email address when you submit your article.
PeerJ also offers the 'article processing charge' payment model: a one-off charge per paper, regardless of the number of authors. If you have your research funder's financial support for open access publishing, please select the APC payment option instead of individual membership.
June 2024: University of Hull's Open Access Prepayment Account with SAGE is fully committed. Ensure you have a means of payment for the article processing charge before submitting to a SAGE Gold Open Access Journal, or selecting the open access publishing route in a SAGE Choice hybrid journal.
SAGE authors who do not have the means to pay an article processing charge for 'gold' open access in a hybrid journal retain the right to self-archive their Accepted Manuscript in their institutional repository (Worktribe for Hull authors) immediately after acceptance, compliant with REF and research funders' open access policies.
A small number of SAGE titles published in partnership with scholarly/professional societies are excluded from the Open Access Publishing Account.
UK universities including Hull have collectively renewed their 'Read and Publish' agreement with SpringerNature, which covers author fees for open access publishing, plus subscriptions to paywalled content, in a single institutional payment. Hull corresponding authors can publish open access free of charge in over 2000 'hybrid' titles:
- Springer Open Choice hybrid journals (download the full list here)
- Palgrave hybrid journals
- Nature, and other Nature Research hybrid journals (subject to a national cap, based on historical publishing trends)
- Other academic journals on Nature.com which are currently transforming to Open Access.
Based on the corresponding author's affiliation (verified by their employer), eligible articles are automatically directed down the open access route once accepted, with a Creative Commons licence (normally CC-BY).
Journals which are excluded from the UK SpringerNature Read & Publish agreement:
- The SpringerOpen and BioMedCentral (BMC) collections of open access titles owned by SpringerNature. Hull corresponding authors can benefit from a 15% discount on the article processing charge for any of these titles.
- Nature Portfolio fully open access journals Nature Communications, Scientific Data, and Scientific Reports. A 15% discount on the article processing charge is offered to Hull corresponding authors.
- The fully open access Nature Partner Journals (npj).
- The new Springer Discover series of rapid review journals
- Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, and any other fully open access journals launched by Palgrave in the period covered by the agreement
- Scientific American (now owned by SpringerNature).
University of Hull is a participant in the latest Taylor and Francis UK Open Access Agreement, until 31 Dec 2025, capped at 7,700 articles per year across the whole sector.
Research articles with a Hull corresponding author are eligible for free open access publishing in any of the journals below, with a Creative Commons licence of your choice. On submission, select the University of Hull Open Access Agreement - when your article is accepted, Library staff will be contacted to confirm your status as an employee or student of the institution.
- Over 300 Taylor and Francis fully open access journals
- Taylor and Francis Open Select (hybrid) journals
- The Routledge Open Research platform for humanities and social sciences
- All submission types on the F1000 open peer review platform.
Search for any journal title on the Taylor & Francis Open Access Cost Finder to confirm its inclusion in the UK agreement.
Note that Dove Press scientific and medical journals are excluded, although this publisher is now owned by Taylor and Francis Group.
Discontinued Agreements
Authors are responsible for any open access publishing fees incurred after the cessation of the agreements listed below. If you do not have financial support from a research funder to pay the article processing charge, target a 'hybrid' (partly-paywalled) journal, and take advantage of your self-archiving rights for 'green' open access.
The University of Hull's three-year 'read and publish' agreement with ACS came to an end on 31 Dec 2024. Eligible papers submitted before 1 Jan 2025 will be published with open access under the terms of the agreement.
7 new fully open access ACS journals are offering free open access publishing during the 2025 calendar year, and in some cases beyond that date.
For longer-established fully open access ACS journals, a discount on the article processing charge is offered to ACS 'premium package' individual members.
For articles published in ACS 'hybrid' (partly-paywalled) journals, the standard embargo period for 'green' open access to the accepted manuscript is 12 months. Authors can pay an optional Article Development Charge (currently $2500 +VAT) to remove this embargo.
The University of Hull's participation in the APA-Jisc Open Access Publishing Pilot Agreement came to an end on 31 July 2024.
The APA self-archiving policy for hybrid journals permits authors to share their accepted manuscript via their institutional repository, with no embargo, and a CC-BY licence if required by the research funder.
Authors who submit to the fully open access APA title Technology, Mind and Behaviour should consider applying for a waiver if they have no funder or faculty account which can be used to pay the article processing charge.
The University of Hull's prepayment account with Frontiers was closed in August 2022.
If you have no means of paying for open access publishing with Frontiers, you may be eligible for this publisher's own fee discount scheme.
The University of Hull's participation in the Jisc-mediated Flat Fee Agreement for open access publishing with PLOS came to an end on 31 Dec 2024, as we faced a 200% increase in the fee for 2025, despite a downturn in articles published during 2024.
Any paper with an eligible author submitted before 1 Jan 2025 to an eligible journal will be covered by the 2024 agreement.
Titles in scope of the agreement are PLOS ONE (all subject areas), PLOS Genetics, PLOS Pathogens, PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, PLOS Digital Health, and PLOS Complex Systems.
The University of Hull withdrew from the Royal Society's Open Access programme in 2020.
Authors who are unable to pay the article processing charge for the fully open access journals Open Biology and Royal Society Open Science are invited to apply for a discretionary waiver.
Open Biology also operates a Reviewer Reward scheme, where tokens earned for reviewing articles can be used to pay article processing charges incurred.
The University of Hull's Read and Publish agreement with the Royal Society of Chemistry came to an end on 31 Dec 2024.
Authors choosing an RSC gold open access journal can apply for a discretionary waiver if they have no source of funding to pay the article processing charge. RSC members are eligible for a 15% discount.
Launched in 2015, the RSC's multidisciplinary journal Chemical Science operates a 'diamond' open access model: free-to-read and free to publish in.
Who Can Help?
Staff who administer the Library's Periodicals collection can advise on the terms of the University's OA publishing agreements and the availability of financial support from research funders: periodicals@hull.ac.uk
Library staff responsible for collection management in Repository@Hull (Worktribe) can assist with record editing and file deposit: repository@hull.ac.uk
