Welcome to the Library: Open Access Publishing

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Open Access Publishing

OhioLINK has negotiated Open Access Publishing deals for member institutions with: Cambridge, Wiley, Elsevier, Springer, and IOP Journals Open Access Publishing. 

OhioLINK is hosting an Open Access Agreements Overview webinar on February 29th, 2024 at 10am. 

Open access (OA) is a way to publish that makes content freely available to read with no subscription or access fees, as well as licensing the work to allow for reuse. 

The Elsevier and Springer deals apply only to Hybrid journals. Hybrid means that the journal publishes articles that are available both by subscription and through open access.


In order to be eligible to publish open access at no cost, the corresponding author of the article must be affiliated with an institution that subscribes to OhioLINK’s Electronic Journal Center (EJC), such as CSCC. There is no limit on the number times an author can request open access funding under this agreement.


The Corresponding Author is the person who handles the manuscript and correspondence during the publication process, including approving the article proofs. In addition, the Corresponding Author also acts as the point of contact for any inquiries (including those relating to the integrity of the work) after the paper is published. Corresponding authors identify their institutional affiliation at the time of submitting their article. Some publishers also use institution email domains to confirm affiliations for their Read & Publish deals.


When a corresponding author's article has been approved for publication in an open access journal, they are offered the option to publish their article as open access.

Elsevier Hybrid Open Access Publishing

Starting in January 2024, corresponding authors affiliated with OhioLINK institutions can publish open access articles in Elsevier’s eligible hybrid journals at no additional cost. Some exclusions exist, such as Cell Press and Lancet titles. Elsevier's fully open access journals are not included in this agreement. This deal will also expand access to Elsevier journals. 

Access to the publishing benefits begins on January 1, 2024, and continues through December 31, 2027.

Ohiolink has created an Elsevier Authors webpage with information for authors about this deal.

Elsevier also has an OhioLINK Open Access Journals page about this agreement.

Cambridge Read and Publish

OhioLINK is embarking upon an agreement with Cambridge University Press with two major benefits for students and faculty at institutions of higher education in Ohio. Starting January 1, 2022, students, faculty, and staff at most OhioLINK member institutions will  have access to current articles published in all 400+ journals published by Cambridge University Press. An important new component of this agreement is the ability for authors at OhioLINK member institutions to publish open access (OA) journal articles at Cambridge University Press-published journals at no additional charge to either the author or the institution.

Access to the publishing benefits begins on January 1, 2022, and continues through December 31, 2024.

Ohiolink has created webpage with information for authors about this deal.

Cambridge has created webpage with information for authors about how to take advantage of open access publishing under this OhioLINK agreement.

Springer Hybrid Open Access Publishing

Starting in January 2024, corresponding authors affiliated with OhioLINK institutions can publish open access articles in eligible hybrid journals from Springer Nature at no additional cost. These include hybrid Springer, Palgrave, Adis, and academic journals at nature.com, but not Nature portfolio journals such as Nature or Scientific American. Springer's fully open access journals are not included in this agreement. OhioLINK institutions also gain access to over 700 Springer Journals through the EJC.

Access to the publishing benefits begins on January 1, 2024, and continues through December 31, 2026.

OhioLINK has created a Springer Authors webpage with information for authors about this deal.

Institute of Physics Publishing

The Library Advisory Council (LAC) has approved a cost-neutral upgrade with the Institute of Physics (IOP) Publishing, which covers physics, materials science, biosciences, astronomy and astrophysics, environmental sciences, and mathematics. The upgrade, starting January 1, 2023, expands Electronic Journal Center (EJC) access to 72 IOP journals, adding open-access publishing benefits for authors.

Access to no-APC open access publishing begins on January 1, 2023, and continues through December 31, 2025, all articles accepted for publication during this time may be published open access.

OhioLink has created a webpage for authors about this deal. 

Other IOP information for authors include:

  • Journal Finder(link sends e-mail) that identifies IOP open access publishing options available to authors, based on the corresponding author's institution affiliation and funder
  • IOP's website with information for authors about open access publishing

Wiley Open Access Publishing

In addition to OhioLINK member institutions' current access to all Wiley journal titles, OhioLINK has negotiated an upgraded agreement with Wiley that offers open access publishing benefits for authors at no cost.

Starting in January 2024, students, faculty, and staff at most OhioLINK member institutions now have the ability to publish open access (OA) journal articles in all OA journals published by Wiley and Hindawi at no additional cost to either the author or the institution. 

Access to the new publishing benefits begins January 1, 2024 and continues through December 31, 2026.

OhioLINK has created a webpage for the Wiley Open Access deal.

Wiley's webpage about Open Access Publishing for authors

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