Open Access Publisher Agreements and Journal Discounts

The UMD Libraries participate in several open-access publisher agreements and journal discounts that are available to UMD authors. To check if a journal you are interested in is covered under one of our agreements, or to browse what journals are currently covered by a publisher, please use our search tool SciFree.

Additionally, to see how our transformative agreements are being used by UMD-affiliated researchers, we’re happy to introduce the University of Maryland Open Access Publishing Agreement Dashboard. This tool was made to allow real-time analysis of UMD's transformative publishing agreements, including the total number of articles published under each transformative agreement, as well as the cost avoidance to University authors who can publish their articles open access without an article processing charge.

Publisher Agreements

For more information on these agreements, including links to individual publisher's author workflows, please visit the OA Publishing Agreement Libguide. To check if a journal you are interested in is covered under one of our agreements, or to browse what journals are currently covered by a publisher, please use our new search tool SciFree.  Please contact libr-contresc@umd.edu for questions or more information on participating in the following open-access publisher agreements.

ACM - Association for Computer Machinery

UMD and ACM’s agreement is intended to facilitate a transition to open access by allowing UMD Affiliated Corresponding Authors to publish accepted eligible articles in ACM’s entire digital library of peer-reviewed scholarly publications on an Open Access basis with no fee charged to them while also offering the option to retain copyright in their work. Publications included in this deal include research articles, review articles, conference or proceedings papers, and any other article types in the Licensed Materials for which ACM would otherwise charge an Article Processing Charge (APC).

The Biochemical Society

UMD Libraries entered a “Read and Publish” agreement with The Biochemical Society through the BTAA, effective January 1, 2024. Under this Read and Publish agreement, UMD corresponding authors may publish articles as Gold Open Access without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC) in any of The Society’s 8 journals, in addition to full read access to The Society’s subscription journals. 

Cambridge University Press 

UMD Libraries entered a “Read and Publish” agreement with Cambridge University Press (CUP) in collaboration with our consortia partner NERL effective January 2022. Under this CUP Read and Publish agreement, UMD corresponding authors may publish articles in any Hybrid or OA journal in Cambridge’s portfolio as Gold Open Access without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC).

The Company of Biologists

UMD Libraries entered a  “Read and Publish” agreement with The Company of Biologists effective January 1, 2024. Under this Read and Publish agreement, UMD authors may publish articles as Gold Open Access without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC) in any of The Company’s 5 journals, in addition to full read access to The Company’s subscription journals. 

Elsevier

UMD has entered into a transformative agreement with Elsevier beginning January 2025. Under this Read and Publish agreement, UMD corresponding authors may publish articles in any of Elsevier's core hybrid and Cell Press journals without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC), in addition to full read access to Elsevier's subscription journals.

The Geological Society of London

UMD Libraries entered a  “Read and Publish” agreement with The Geological Society of London effective April 1, 2024. Under this Read and Publish agreement, UMD authors may publish articles as Gold Open Access without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC) in 7 of society journal titles and 5 society book series, in addition to full read access to the society's current and archival journal and book series.

IOP - Institute of Physics

UMD has entered into a transformative agreement with IOP through the BTAA beginning January 2023. The deal covers 74 IOP titles. Articles published in Society journals where the corresponding author is from UMD will be published Open Access with a CC BY 4.0 license. Publications included in this deal include research articles, special issue papers, reviews, and letters for which IOP would otherwise charge an Article Processing Charge.

Microbiology Society

UMD has entered into a Publish and Read agreement with the Microbiology Society through the BTAA covering all of the Society’s six journals, where any article published in Society journals where the corresponding author is from UMD will be published Open Access with a CC BY license by default. Additionally, the deal provides access to the entire archive of Society content, back to 1947.

The Royal Society

UMD and The Royal Society’s agreement covers publishing in ten of RS’ 10 peer-reviewed, high-impact scientific journals covering all of science: Philosophical Transactions A&B, Proceedings A&B, Interface, Interface Focus, Biology Letters, Open Biology, Open Science, and Notes & Records. The agreement also provides access to content from all RS journals since 1665.

The Royal Society of Chemistry

UMD Libraries entered a “Read and Publish” agreement with The Royal Society of Chemistry in collaboration with our consortia partner Lyrasis, effective January 1, 2024. Under this Read and Publish agreement, UMD corresponding authors may publish articles in any of The RSC’s journal portfolio as Gold Open Access without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC), in addition to full read access to The RSC’s subscription journals. The agreement also provides access to content from all RSC journals since 1841.

Springer *New for 2025!*

UMD has entered into an agreement with Springer in collaboration with the BTAA, effective January 2025. The agreement extends our existing access to Springer journals and adds an Open Access (OA) publishing component. UMD corresponding authors, including graduate students, can publish their research as OA articles in Springer hybrid journals including Adis, Palgrave Macmillan, and Academic hybrid journals on Nature.com. These articles will be available immediately, without embargo, and without paying an article processing charge. This agreement also grants access to content from Springer titles published since 1997.

Wiley 

UMD has entered into a transformative agreement with Wiley through the BTAA, beginning January 2022. Under this Read and Publish agreement, UMD corresponding authors may publish articles in any of Wiley’s Open or Hybrid journals as Gold Open Access without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC), in addition to full read access to Wiley’s subscription journals.