Open Access Publishing Opportunities @ UC
By Brian Gray, Ted Baldwin, Sharon Purtee, Mark Chalmers and Aja Bettencourt-McCarthy
What is Open Access (OA)?
Open access publishing grew out of a recognition that much scholarship – even work that was publicly funded – was inaccessible to the public as well as many scholars at small or less wealthy institutions due to high subscription costs. Between the mid 1980s and 2000, subscription journal costs rose dramatically, further catalyzing interest in exploring alternative models.
As a result of these efforts, scholarly publishing has evolved to include a range of open access options.
| Open Access Types | Description |
| Gold | Fully open access journal. An Article Publishing Charge (APC) is usually paid by the author (or another funder). |
| Diamond/Platinum | Fully open access journal. No APC required as these are typically funded by institutions, advertising, philanthropy, etc. |
| Hybrid | Subscription journal. Publisher allows authors to pay to make individual articles open access. |
While some societies and institutions focus on a single open access model for all their content, large publishers might have a portfolio of journals that use different open access models. The range of open access options is continuously evolving and can be challenging for scholars to navigate, but it also provides new benefits.
Researchers choose to publish their work with open access for a variety of reasons. Some are drawn to the increased reach and community engagement that open access offers while others may be prompted by mandates from funders. Either way, publishing open access allows scholars, policy makers, practitioners and others from around the world easy access to research, increasing its reach and potential for practical impact. As the interest in open access publishing has grown, libraries and consortia began exploring ways to support researchers beyond providing traditional subscription journal access.
Open Access: OhioLINK & University of Cincinnati Libraries
As publishers, authors, grant providers and government agencies increased the amount of research available by open access methods, OhioLINK started negotiating deals for authors at OhioLINK member institutions. The OhioLINK open access read and publish agreements effectively provide free open access author rights via leveraging money that historically would only pay for the right to read the subscription-protected content. The OhioLINK collection committee closely monitors the publishing landscape of Ohio researchers and the format decisions of publishers to craft agreements that remain cost-neutral to the member universities. As the publishing ecosphere shifts to open access, instead of protected by a subscription firewall, OhioLINK dollars are shifting to paying authoring related costs instead of the cost to access a subscription.
The University of Cincinnati Libraries has leveraged a similar approach. In these now local deals, the libraries have negotiated new multiyear agreements that control annual inflation costs and waive the costs to the UC researchers wanted to publish open access.
Current Author Process
In working with publishers, UC Libraries and OhioLINK have established a straightforward process for faculty, staff and students to access these open access publishing opportunities. To qualify for APC waivers, authors must meet two essential requirements: they must be the corresponding author, i.e. the author submitting the manuscript for publication and communicating with the journal, and must use their UC affiliated email address during the submission process for publisher verification. UC Email partner domains are also accepted according to the University Email Policy.
Authors can easily identify eligible journals by consulting the comprehensive UC Libraries LibGuide on Read & Publish Deals , OhioLINK’s Open Access page for authors, or by using publisher-specific journal finder tools. Elsevier offers a journal finder tool for the OhioLINK agreement, Cambridge provides an Open Access Funding lookup tool and spreadsheets are available on the LibGuides for both Springer and Wiley journals.
When submitting a manuscript to a participating journal, authors should identify themselves as UC affiliates by using their uc.edu email address. When the manuscript is accepted for publication, authors choose whether to take advantage of the open access APC waiver. Importantly, waivers are not “spent” until a paper is accepted for publication.
Some publisher agreements have caps on the total number of open access articles that can be published annually across all OhioLINK institutions. Once these limits are reached, the no-cost open access option may no longer be available until the next calendar year. The UC Libraries LibGuide maintains current information about availability status.
The UC Libraries’ LibGuide serves as the central hub for all information regarding these agreements, including eligible publishers, journal lists, and submission requirements. Additionally, current contact information can be found if authors have questions about eligibility, the submission process, or would like assistance with publisher communications.
| Publisher | Types of Journals |
| Royal Society of Chemistry* | All journals |
| SPIE* | All journals |
| ASME* | All journals |
| Springer | Select hybrid journals |
| Elsevier | Select hybrid journals |
| Wiley | Hybrid and fully OA journals |
| Cambridge University Press | All journals |
| American Institute of Physics | Hybrid OA journals only |
| Company of Biologists | All journals |
| IOP (Institute of Physics) | All journals |
| Microbiology Society | All journals |
| IWA Publishing | All journals |
*Bold titles are new in 2025
Impact of UC Libraries Efforts
Between 2022 and 2024, the open access program at UC – with support from OhioLINK – allowed UC authors to publish 612 articles open access at no personal cost resulting in a total cost savings of $2,219,369. The more detailed breakdown of author activities and savings is provided in the table below demonstrate the range of disciplines and publishers that currently participate in the program.
| Publisher | Number of Articles | Dollars Saved |
| 2024 | ||
| Elsevier | 63 | $224,110 |
| Springer | 97 | $367,760 |
| Wiley | 145 | $541,940 |
| Cambridge University Press | 15 | $47,775 |
| American Institute of Physics | 5 | $14,900 |
| Company of Biologists | 3 | $13,750 |
| Institute of Physics (IOP)/Electrochemical Society (ECS) | 6 | $16,650 |
| TOTAL | 334 | $1,226,885 |
| 2023 | ||
| Wiley | 149 | $558,750 |
| Cambridge University Press | 17 | $46,509 |
| Institute of Physics (IOP) | 1 | $3,705 |
| American Institute of Physics (AIP) | 6 | $21,000 |
| Company of Biologists | 2 | $8,800 |
| TOTAL | 175 | $637,684 |
| 2022 | ||
| Wiley | 84 | $315,000 |
| Cambridge University Press | 11 | $19,800 |
| IGI Global | 8 | $16,000 |
| TOTAL | 103 | $350,800 |
In addition to the quantitative measurements, feedback from program participants demonstrates the individual impact on UC scholars. Participants noted immediate increase in the reach of their work. John Martin, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, described an open access project he worked on with colleagues from around the world and noted that, “the only way they could distribute the published paper was through Open Access publishing.” Similarly, Bogdan Leu, assistant professor of physics at UC Blue Ash noted, “Journal subscriptions are not cheap; for many, this might be the only option of accessing my article.”
Beyond broadening access, several program participants explained that that they might not have been able to consider an open access option without APC support. This was particularly relevant for scholars not in traditional research positions. As Dean Stocker, associate professor of physics shared,
“I’m at the UC Blue Ash campus in a role that is almost exclusively based on teaching…Paying the cost to publish just one open access article would have blown three years’ worth of my research funding! I have had three articles accepted for publication in the last year, so the cost of that would have exceeded all of the research funding I have received at UC during my entire time here. Without the [APC waiver], basically I would have to choose whether to do research or to publish it. I couldn’t do both” (emphasis added).
Given the positive impact that participation in UC’s APC program has had on facilitating publication and broadening access to research, it is unsurprising that participants were eager to recommend the program to others. Sally Santen, associate dean, medical education in the College of Medicine exemplifies this in describing how she might discuss the program with colleagues, “I would tell them it’s a great opportunity to have their research published to a wider audience and to use this benefit. It’s a very simple process on the publisher’s site.” Referrals and support from faculty participants speak to the impact of the program and are a key driver of its continued growth.
Uncharted Future
The future of open access publications, and especially how the cost for production is funded, is not clear. Publishers are in various stages of transition between historical publishing models and various open access options. Government agencies, and others funding research, have not settled on one clear open access model to endorse and/or mandate of research output. Professional societies across many disciplines have not universally accepted open access publishing as a sound fiscal model to fund their unique membership driven goals and objectives.
OhioLINK’s collection committee continues to stay engaged in the open access community. The committee analyzes each of the licensed publisher’s article outputs to monitor worldwide and Ohio author trends to negotiate new agreements most cost effective and efficient for Ohio universities, authors, and researchers.
Locally, the University of Cincinnati librarians are highly engaged in the OhioLINK open access activities and implemented similar best practices to local subscriptions. The success of each open access agreement is assessed and evaluated regularly. New opportunities for UC authors are being sought within the context of the library budget and local research needs. Additional suggestions for open access author opportunities can be discussed with the appropriate subject librarian.
