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Open Access Publishing

Support for Open Access Publishing

Northeastern University Library has agreements in place with a variety of publishers to support open access publishing. Through transformative agreements and various subscribe-to-open and publish-and-read models, Northeastern-affiliated authors can have Article Processing Charges (APCs) fully covered or can receive discounts on the APCs charged by some publishers to make their articles available Open Access.

Open Access Agreements & Discounts for Northeastern Authors

Search for the Journals included in open access agreements

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  • American Chemical Society:Northeastern University Library entered into a multi-year Open Access (OA)  agreement with the American Chemical Society (ACS) through Dec. 2027.  This is a “read and publish” agreement that maintains subscription access to all ACS journals. NU affiliated corresponding authors can also publish their accepted research and review articles OA in ACS journals at no cost to the researcher.This agreement covers both Gold OA (all articles are OA) and hybrid (some articles are OA, some are subscription-access) journals.
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)  Through this new agreement, Northeastern-affiliated authors can have Article Processing Charges (APCs) fully waived when publishing open access in ASME journals, with articles accepted after January 1, 2024. Here is a complete list of journals included in this new agreement, and slides explaining the author submission process.
  • Annual Reviews: APCs are covered for Northeastern authors who publish in qualifying open access Annual Reviews publications. See information about the Subscribe-to-Open (S20) model and qualifying journals.
  • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Northeastern University Library and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) have entered into a five year (2024-through 2028) transformative Open Access agreement. This program allows researchers affiliated with Northeastern to publish open access articles in ACM publications at no cost to themselves.  Please use your Northeastern e-mail address when you submit your work to ACM.
  • Biomedcentral and SpringerOpen journals: Northeastern University’s membership offers Northeastern University authors a 15% discount on APCs. Charges vary by journal.
  • Bioscientifica allows corresponding authors affiliated with Northeastern to receive a 50% discount on APCs when choosing the gold open-access option in subscription journals that the Library subscribes to. The Library currently subscribes to Journal of Endocrinology and Reproduction. See the Hybrid (subscription) journals section on Bioscientifica’s website for more information.
  • Cambridge University Press: APCs are covered for Northeastern authors who publish in a CUP hybrid or Gold OA journal. The article must be one of five research article types defined by CUP: research, reviews, rapid communications, brief reports, and case reports. Consult the Open Access and Waivers Discount Tool to check which journals are covered under the agreement.
  • Company of Biologists: APCs are covered for Northeastern authors who publish research articles in any of their three hybrid subscription-based journals or two fully Open Access journals. Hybrid journals included in the agreement are Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology. Fully Open Access journals include Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open. A step-by-step guide for authors is available here
  • Elsevier:  Northeastern University Library has just signed a 5 year Read and Publish Agreement with Elsevier.  NU affiliated corresponding authors will not need to pay the APCs for publishing their article in  these Core-Hybrid Elsevier journals.  Articles must have received an acceptance after Jan. 1 2024 and the agreement will run unto Dec. 31st 2028.  More information on the agreement will be coming soon.   If you have a question now on the agreement and or the author workflow, please contact the Collection Development Librarian.
  • Institute of Physics:  Northeastern University Library has negotiated a transformative agreement with the Institute of Physics (IOP) that offers full access to IOP journals and Open Access publishing benefits for corresponding authors at no cost.  Beginning January 1, 2024, and continuing through December 31, 2026, NU affiliated corresponding authors can publish unlimited Open Access articles in all IOP journals that offer Open Access publishing at no cost to the author.   Articles need to be accepted after Jan. 1, 2024.
    Please identify your NU institutional affiliation at the time you submit your article to an eligible IOP journal for publication and use your NU e-mail. 
  • John Benjamins is moving toward a fully open access publication model through its Read & Publish agreements. Northeastern University Library signed an agreement and as of 1/1/2024, article processing charges (APCs) will be fully waived for manuscript submissions from Northeastern affiliated corresponding authors accepted for publication in any John Benjamins portfolio of journals after Jan 1 2024. Full waiver (100%) of all Article Processing Charges (APCs)
    How to receive the APC waiver: corresponding authors must use their NU e-mail address and list Northeastern University as their institutional affiliation at the time of submitting their article.
  • Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy (University of Toronto Press) through the Library’s current subscription, The Open Access Publish Guarantee allows lead authors affiliated to publish open access without paying APCs. Articles will be open access regardless of whether the subscribe-to-open subscription threshold is met.
  • MDPI  For any manuscript where at least one author is an affiliated author, MDPI will grant a 10% reduction on the published APC for the journal.
  • Microbiology Society: APCs are covered for Northeastern authors as part of a Publish and Read agreement. See the Publish and Read Author Guide.
  • National Academy of Sciences: Northeastern authors receive a discounted APC fee to make publications available Open Access. For questions/assistance please contact the Collection Development Librarian.
  • Royal Society of Chemistry: Northeastern University Library has entered into a Read & Publish agreement with the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) beginning Jan. 1 2024,  that provides continued access to all RSC journal content and supports open access publishing in RSC journals. The new agreement allows NU affiliated corresponding authors to publish an unlimited number of open access articles in RSC journals for free.  Articles accepted after Jan..1, 2024 will be eligible.  To confirm your eligibility, make sure you are listed as the corresponding author, both in the online submission system and in your manuscript. Use your NU email address to submit your manuscript and state your NU affiliation and email address in your manuscript.
  • The Royal Society: Northeastern University Library has entered into a Read and Publish agreement with the Royal Society starting Jan. 1st 2024.  Article Processing Charges (APCs) will be waived for NU affiliated authors whose articles are accepted after Jan 1 2024..  Please use your NU e-mail.  Please see this page for more on the journals and the OA publishing process.
  • Sage: Sage has entered into an agreement with Northeastern University Library to publish articles Open Access.  The agreement will start with articles accepted after January 01, 2024,  and run through December 31, 2026.  The agreement will give NU affiliated authors the ability to publish Open Access in any Sage Premier and Sage Gold journal.  Sage has information about open access that authors may want to read.  Also, they offer an ongoing series of webinars on publishing getting published
  • Springer Nature: APCs are covered for Northeastern authors who publish in many of Springer Nature’s portfolio of hybrid and subscription journals, including Springer, Palgrave, and Adis. See Eligible journals for the Agreement and the Author Guide.  The current agreement does NOT include Nature or Springer journals that are already full open access.
  • Wiley: APCs are fully covered for Northeastern authors who publish in a Wiley hybrid journal, or a Wiley fully open access (GOLD) or Hindawi journal. Qualifying publication types include primary research and review articles, original articles, case studies, reviews, and short communications. See the article types supported, and check out the author workflow on submitting to Wiley hybrid journals and author workflow on publishing in Wiley fully open access journals. 

Other Ways of Funding & Publishing Open Access

Upload Your Publications to the Digital Repository:

For Northeastern authors who wish to make research output available to a wider audience but prefer to publish in a subscription-based journal, publishers often permit authors to make a certain version of their articles available open access in their university’s digital repository. (Sometimes this may even be required by funders.)

Cover Costs via Grants & Sponsored Research:

APCs for publishing in open access journals are often acceptable costs to include into grant proposals and other sponsored research budgets.

Benefits of Professional Society Memberships:

Northeastern authors may find that professional society memberships afford discounts for open access publishing.

No-Cost Open Access Journals:

Many open access journals charge authors nothing for publication. The Guide to Choosing a Publication Venue can help you assess the quality and reputation of journals.

Additional Support

The NU Libraries support open access initiatives and advocacy through memberships in or contributions to:

Digital Commonwealth

Finding & Using Open Access Resources

Visit our Open Access Resources subject guide for suggested places to find open access and public domain materials including images, video, and datasets.