Open Access agreements & discounts

The Library enables Sussex and BSMS corresponding authors to publish their work Gold Open Access through a variety of Transformative Agreements, memberships and discounts.

Criteria for each agreement are detailed below but please contact the Open Access team as early as possible if you’re planning to publish - the sooner you do, the more we can help!

Please note that the Library does not wish to influence authors’ decisions on where to publish and the list below is not an endorsement of any particular publisher.

If you are unsure about any of the information below, please contact the Library Open Access team at openaccess@sussex.ac.uk.

Transformative Agreements

Transformative Agreements (sometimes known as Transitional Agreements) offer eligible corresponding authors the opportunity to publish Open Access at no cost and provide a potential route to compliance for certain UK funders’ Open Access policies, including Wellcome and UKRI. Please refer to the conditions for each agreement below or get in touch for more info.

  • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    ACM OPEN Read & Publish Agreement 2023 - 2025

    • Corresponding authors affiliated with the University of Sussex can publish their research articles Open Access in all ACM journals at no cost to themselves
    • Details of author actions required can be found in the ACM Open Author Rights Workflow [PDF 1.06MB]

    For further information please see ACM OPEN 

  • American Chemical Society

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    ACS Read & Publish Program 2022-2024

    Author actions:

    • Corresponding authors must use their Sussex email address and select their affiliation via a dropdown during the submission process
    • ACS step by step author guide

    For more information and author guidelines, visit ACS.

  • American Institute of Physics (AIP)

    Deal: Publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    AIP Read and Publish Agreement 2024-2025

    Please note: an annual article cap applies to this agreement, at which point the eligibility criteria may be subject to change

      • University of Sussex corresponding authors can publish open access in any AIP hybrid subscription titles at no cost to the author
      • Eligible article types – Research article, Brief Communication, Communication, Conference Article, Fast Track or Article-FT, Letter, Note, Perspective, Research Update, Review and Road Map

    Visit AIP for more information and a guide for authors. 

  • American Physical Society (APS)

    Deal: Publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    APS Read and Publish 2023 - 2025

    • University of Sussex corresponding authors can publish open access in all 9 hybrid peer-reveiwed Physical Review journals published by APS
    • Eligible article types - Original research and reveiws, including, but not limited to: regular articles, letters, reviews, perspectives and tutorials

    For further information vist APS

  • Bristol University Press (BUP) (incl. Policy Press)

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to the author (Transformative Agreement)

    BUP Journals Collection Read and Publish Agreement 2024

    • Corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Sussex can publish Open Access in BUP hybrid journals at no cost to the author
    • In addition corresponding authors will be eligible to a 20% discount on the APC in the OA only Global Social Callenges Journal
    • Corresponding authors will also be eligible for a 15% discount on BPCs and CPCs when publishing books and chapters with BUP
    • Eligible article types are original peer reviewed research and review articles

    Author Actions:

    Once your paper has been accepted email bup-journals@bristol.ac.uk including details of your submission and the name of your instituion in the email to claim your open access

    For further information see FAQs

  • Cambridge University Press (CUP)

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    Read and Publish agreement 2021-2024

    • Corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Sussex can publish Open Access in Gold and hybrid journals at no cost to the author through the Cambridge University Press Read and Publish Agreement
    • Publish research articles, review articles, rapid communications, brief reports and case reports

     For further information and author actions visit CUP.

  • Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    Read and Publish agreement 2025-2026

    • Corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Sussex can publish Open Access with a CC-BY licence in 4 research titles at no cost to the author: Genes & Development, Genome Research, RNA, and Learning & Memory
    • This offer applies to research articles, review articles and case study articles
    • Corresponding authors should ensure that their institutional affiliation and institutional email address is correctly entered in the publisher’s submission system

    For further information, please visit CSHLP.

  • Company of Biologists

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    Read and Publish agreement 2025-2026

    For further information, see Company of Biologists' guide for authors.

  • De Gruyter

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    De Gruyter Journal Open Access R&P Transitional Agreement 2024-2025

    • Corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Sussex can publish Open Access with a CC BY licence in hybrid and fully Open Access journals at no cost to the author - Some partner or society journals apply a CC BY-NC-ND licence
    • Corresponding author to identify affiliation with the University of Sussex when submitting. Using your Sussex email address should also confirm your affiliation

    For further information and author guidelines visit De Gruyter.

  • Elsevier (incl. Cell Press)
    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    Elsevier-UK Institutions Agreement 2022-2025

    • University of Sussex affiliated corresponding authors can publish their peer-reviewed research Gold OA at no additional cost in Elsevier's hybrid journals
    • Corresponding authors can also benefit from a 15% discount on the list price APC in Elsevier's fully Gold OA journals. The Library does not have funds to cover the remaining APC amount 
    • Please note this agreement covers the Open Access charge (APC) only and not page or colour charges if applied

    Author actions:

    • Once your article has been accepted for publication in a participating journal, you will receive an email containing a link to the "post-acceptance author journey". Upon selecting your publishing options, your affiliation will be validated by your institution, and you will be informed if the APC will be covered by the agreement
    • Upon publication, your final published Open Access article will be made freely available on ScienceDirect, the world's largest publishing platform

    Visit Elsevier for further information, author guidelines and a list of eligible Elsevier journals.

  • Institute of Physics (IOP)
    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    IOP Read and Publish 2024-2025

    • University of Sussex affiliated corresponding authors can publish their work Gold OA at no additional cost in IOP’s journals on lists A, B, C and D.
    • Corresponding authors can also benefit from a 70% discount on the standard APC of hybrid journals not included in the main list
    • Please note this agreement covers the Open Access charge only and not page or colour charges if applied

    Visit IOP for further information, author guidelines and  Lists of eligible IOP journals.

  • Oxford University Press (OUP)

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    OUP Read and Publish Agreement 2024-2025

    • University of Sussex affiliated corresponding authors can publish their work Gold OA at no cost to the author (please note that page/colour charges can apply; please check the submission guidelines for your chosen journal)
    • Eligible article types: Research article, review article, brief reports and case reports
    • All eligible articles will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence, except for society titles that do not offer a CC BY option
    • Please note this agreement covers the Open Access charge only and not page or colour charges if applied

    Author Actions:

    For further information and author actions visit OUP's UK Read & Publish deal page and their list of eligible OUP journals.

  • Public Library of Science (PLOS)

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)  Both agreements under review for 2025

    From January 2023, Sussex corresponding authors will be able to publish in PLOS Biology without charge under our new PLOS Community Action Publishing agreement. For more details, please contact the team on openaccess@sussex.ac.uk

     

    PLOS Flat Fee for Six 2022-2024

    Author actions:

    • Upon submitting your manuscript to any of the eligible PLOS journals, authors should list their institutional affiliation in PLOS' submission system

    For more information, visit PLOS.

  • Portland Press

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    Read and Publish agreement 2023 - 2024

    • Corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Sussex can publish Open Access in all 7 of the Portland Press journals with a CC-BY license at no cost to the author
    • Corresponding authors should ensure that their institutional affiliation and institutional email address is correctly entered in the publisher’s submission system

    For further information, please visit Portland Press.

  • Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to the author (Transformative Agreement)

    Royal Society of Chemistry Read & Publish Agreement 2022-2025

    • Corresponding authors affiliated with the University of Sussex can publish peer-reviewed articles in RSC Hybrid journals at no cost to themselves
    • All peer-reviewed article types are covered in this agreement which fall into three main categories: full papers, communications, and reviews.
    • Articles will be published with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence
    • Please note this agreement is capped. This entry will be updated if the publishing limit has been reached

    Author actions:

    • Corresponding authors must state their affiliation and use their Sussex email address in the author submission workflow
    • RSC step by step author guide

    For more information and author guidelines, visit RSC.

  • Royal Society Publishing

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    Royal Society Journals Read and Publish Transitional Agreement 2024

    • University of Sussex affiliated corresponding authors can publish their work Gold OA with a CC BY licence at no cost to the author in any Royal Society journal 

     Author actions:

    • During the submission process, simply state details of your institution and select the 'Read & Publish' option 

     For more information, visit The Royal Society.

  • SAGE

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    SAGE Journals Read and Publish 2023 - 2024

    Author actions:

    • Corresponding authors affiliated with Sussex should automatically be included in this deal. 

    For more information visit SAGE.

  • Springer Nature

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    Springer Nature Read and Publish 2023-2025

     Author actions:

    • During the submission process state that you are affiliated with the University of Sussex and use your University email address
    • The request will come through to the Library from Springer to confirm you are eligible as a University member

     For more information, visit Springer. Also see Springer UK guide for corresponding authors [PDF 340.39KB].

  • Taylor & Francis

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    Taylor & Francis Read and Publish OA Agreement 2024-2025

    Please note: an annual article cap applies to this agreement, at which point the eligibility criteria may be subject to change.

    • Taylor & Francis offer corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Sussex the opportunity to publish Gold OA when publishing in Taylor & Francis and Routledge Open Select (hybrid), Fully OA / F 1000 Research and Routledge Open Research  Journals at no cost to themselves. For more information on T&F Open Select journals, see here

     Author actions:

    • You do not need to do anything. All accepted research articles meeting the eligibility requirements will be considered for OA publication under this agreement. If approved by the University, you will receive an email asking you to select a Creative Commons licence
    • The University prefers, and certain research funders require, a CC BY licence to be selected. If in doubt, please contact openaccess@sussex.ac.uk

    To be eligible, articles must:

    • Be original research articles. Other types of paper may be considered for F1000 Research and Routledge Open Research
    • Be accepted for publication after the 1st of January 2024
    • Have a corresponding author affiliated to the University of Sussex

    For more information, visit Taylor & Francis.

  • Wiley

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author (Transformative Agreement)

    Jisc Wiley Read and Publish Agreement 2024-2025

    Author actions:

    • When publishing in a subscription (hybrid) journal, a Wiley fully open access journal or Hindawi fully open access journal go to this Wiley open access webpage and scroll down to the 'How to publish' guides
    • To find the eligibility criteria go to this Wiley open access webpage

    If your paper was funded by one of the UK Research Councils (UKRI), former COAF medical charities (including Wellcome Trust) or another funder that requires the CC BY licence, ensure that you select this option when asked. The University encourages other authors to choose CC BY.

Discounts and Memberships

Eligible corresponding authors can apply for discounts/memberships to reduce publication costs with these publishers. Please refer to the conditions for each agreement below or get in touch for more info.

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

    Deal: APC discount

    AAAS Journals Agreement 2023-2025

    • 10% APC discount when publishing in Science Advances
    • Available to corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Sussex 

    For further information on this deal, visit the Institutional Affiliation Discount section of American Association for the Advancement of Science's Licensing and charges page. 

  • Cogitatio

    Institutional Membership 2023-25 (This agreement applies to articles submitted after 1 January 2023)

    The Library’s institutional membership covers the article processing charges (APC) of all articles authored by corresponding authors affiliated with the institution in the following open access journals:

    Author actions:

    During the submission process state that you are affiliated with the University of Sussex and use your University email address (with suffix @sussex.ac.uk)

    For more information, please visit Cogitatio

  • MDPI

    Deal: APC discount

    The Institutional Open Access Programme (IOAP) 2024

    • Affiliated authors receive a 20% discount on MDPI APCs
    • Affiliated authors receive a 10% discount on MDPI BPCs at MDPI Books
    • Deal applies to all MDPI journals

    Author Actions:

    • Authors are prompted in the last step of submission to confirm they are eligible for discounts under the open access scheme
    • The program is pre-selected if authors are submitting from an institutional computer with a registered IP address

     For more information, visit MDPI.

  • PeerJ

    Deal: publish Gold OA at no cost to author 

    Institutional Three-Year Fixed Term Memberships

    • Our PeerJ Three Year Fixed Term Memberships are valid from the date of an author’s first publication and for a further 36 months, during which they can publish up to two more articles at any point, giving authors more flexibility as to when they publish
    • Under the agreement, all co-authors must hold a PeerJ Membership in order to publish; any Memberships previously held by Sussex-affiliated authors remain valid

    Author actions:

    • Use your Sussex email address during submission process and follow PeerJ's guidance once your article has been accepted
    • The request will come through to the Library from PeerJ to approve with no further action needed by you

    For more information, visit PeerJ.

Supported initiatives

The Library supports a variety of Open Access publication models and believes in the need for a diverse range of options for its authors. To that end, we contribute to the following initiatives; Sussex authors interested in exploring publication options with these publishers can read more on each entry or get in touch for more info on openaccess@sussex.ac.uk

  • AUPresses

    The Association advances the essential role of a global community of publishers whose mission is to ensure academic excellence and to cultivate knowledge

    For further information visit AUPresses

  • Open Science Framework

    OSF institutions increase the visibility of institutional research. OSF institutions help to accelerate research and increase research visibility.

    For further information visit OSF Institutions

  • SCOAP3

    SCOAP3 is a partnership of over three thousand libraries, key funding agencies and research centers in 44 countries, regions or territories and three intergovernmental organisations. Working with leading publishers, SCOAP3 has converted key journals in the field of High-Energy Physics to Open Access and continues to support OA publishing in these journals at no cost for authors. Each country, region or territory contributes in a way commensurate to its scientific output in the field. In addition, existing Open Access journals and even books and monographs are centrally supported, removing existing financial barriers for authors and allowing a free and easy scientific discourse in High-Energy Physics. This results in exceptionally good value for money.

    The Library is proud to support SCOAP3 through its Partners programme. For more information, please visit SCOAP3.

  • CEU Press

    Established in 1993 to reflect the intellectual strengths and values of its parent institution, CEU Press is a leading publisher in the history of communism and transitions to democracy. It is widely recognised as the foremost English-language university press dedicated to research on Central and Eastern Europe and the former communist countries. It publishes approximately 25 new titles a year and has a large backlist of over 500 titles with e-books already available through several platforms.

    Building on library journal membership models such as Open Library of the Humanities and ‘Subscribe to Open’, CEU Press is creating a sustainable OA publishing model that will give members access to a selection of the extensive backlist, DRM free and with perpetual access after a subscription period of three years. This membership revenue will be used to make newly-published books openly accessible to anyone.

    The Library has purchased the Political Science package and is proud to support CEU Press through its Membership programme, helping sustain a viable alternative to the Book-Processing-Charge-model favoured by many of the larger publishers. For information on submission, author guidelines, or to browse the catalogue of the Political Science package, please visit CEUP Press.

  • Bloomsbury Open Collections

    Bloomsbury are aiming to make 20 books available open access via the pilot between March 2024 and February 2025, comprising all the monographs published on their African Studies (Zed imprint) list in the target period, as well as some related monographs in International Development.

    For further details including information for authors visit BloomsburyOpen Collections

  • Open Book Collective

    The OBC brings together publishers, publishing service providers, and scholarly libraries to secure the diversity and financial futures of open access book production and dissemination.

    Initiatives included in the package:

     

    Please get in touch with the Library’s Open Access team for more information on each initiative: openaccess@sussex.ac.uk

     

  • MIT Press Direct to Open

    The MIT Press Direct to Open agreement opens access to all new MIT Press scholarly monographs and edited collections (~90 titles per year) from 2022, and provides participating libraries with term access to backlist/archives (~2,500 titles), which would otherwise be gated.

    For further details visit MIT Press