Open access

Open access makes research publications freely available, enabling the results to be read and built on by anyone. Making research outputs open access maximises their public benefit and readership, raises a researcher's profile, and increases the impact of that work. It also allows others to re-use that research, for example, by allowing the content to be analysed with text and data mining.

Open access publishing agreements

To support all University of Leicester researchers to publish open access, the University has signed a number of publisher agreements that allow Leicester affiliated corresponding authors to publish primary research and review articles open access, at no additional cost. You can find a list of the main agreements at the bottom of this page. Further details are also on our Sharepoint open access hub.

These publishing agreements are known by a number of different terms: read and publish, transformative, or transitional agreements. The terms and conditions of each agreement vary.

Eligibility

The Journal must be included in the agreement and the article type covered by the agreement.
The responsible corresponding author must be affiliated to the University of Leicester. This is the author that completes the online submission and is responsible for signing on behalf of all authors.
When making the submission to the journal we advise authors to use their University of Leicester email address (@leicester.ac.uk) and, if required, the University of Leicester Ringgold ID 4488.
Any funding must be properly acknowledged in publisher systems and the paper.
Articles submitted in the agreements are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY) licence by default. However, where there is a choice of Creative Commons License, you must consider your funders requirements. Most funders including UKRI, Wellcome Trust, BHF, CRUK and NIHR have a requirement for the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.

Gold open access fees

If you are funded by UKRI, Wellcome Trust (WT), British Heart Foundation (BHF) or Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and your journal is not covered by the publisher agreements below, we manage block grants from these funders and may be able to pay the APC. Please use the application form to apply for APC funding, before submitting your paper.

List of publisher agreement

American Chemical Society

Through the American Chemical Society Read and Publish 2022-2024, Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access in all ASC journals, both hybrid and fully OA. Please see the how to guide on the ACS website. The University will then be asked to approve the article in the ACS dashboard.

American Institute of Physics (AIP)

University of Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access, with a CC-BY License, in any of AIP’s hybrid subscription titles at no cost to the author.

Further information on the agreement is on the AIP website.

American Psychological Association

University of Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access, with a CC-BY License, in hybrid journals published by APA at no cost to the author.

Further information is available on the APA website.

Annual Reviews

University of Leicester authors can publish open access through the Annual Reviews Subscribe to open scheme. The model requires sufficient numbers of libraries to subscribe to the journals each year, new volumes are published OA under a Creative Commons license. The publisher will confirm whether the model will operate each year at the beginning of the year. The scheme is in place until 31 December 2025.

Further information is on the Annual Reviews webpages.

BMJ Publishing

Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access in certain BMJ journals, where the paper acknowledges funding from the following: UKRI, Wellcome Trust, British Heart Foundation, Blood Cancer UK, Cancer Research UK, Parkinson's UK, Versus Arthritis.

The corresponding author does not need to be the holder of the funding - but does need to be affiliated with the University of Leicester. All articles will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence and deposited to Europe PubMed Central on publication.

Further information on the BMJ Agreement.

Cambridge University Press

Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access in approximately 95% of CUP's fully open access journals and hybrid journals. The agreement covers Research, Review Articles, Rapid Communications, Brief Reports and Case Reports. Visit this page for article type definitions.

Further information on the CUP Read and Publish Agreement.

Company of Biologists

University of Leicester corresponding authors are able to publish an uncapped number of Open Access research articles in the three subscription journals, plus the fully open access journals: Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models and Mechanisms, and Biology Open.

Articles are published with a CC-BY licence.

Further information in the Company of Biologists guide for authors.

Elsevier

The University has signed a transitional agreement with Elsevier to enable unlimited open access for University of Leicester corresponding authors publishing in participating hybrid journals, including Cell Press and the Lancet. The deal is in place for articles accepted from 1 January 2022 until 31 December 2024. In addition, University of Leicester corresponding authors publishing in Elsevier's fully gold open access journals will receive a 15% discount on the Article Processing Charge (APC).

Further information on the Elsevier-UK institutions agreement.

European Respiratory Society (ERS)

University of Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access, with a CC-BY License, in the following journals: European Respiratory Journal, European Respiratory Review and ERJ Open Research.

To be eligible, articles must meet the following conditions:

Be any article type other than a European Respiratory Journal Editorial, an official ERS document or an article which ERS is prevented from publishing open access by another rightsholder.
Have a corresponding author whose email address (on their ScholarOne account and the to-be-published article) is issued by the University of Leicester.
Be accepted between 1 January, 2022 and 31 December, 2023, inclusive.

Further information is in on the ERS website.

Geological Society (Lyell Collection) 2023

University of Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access, with a CC-BY License, in all 7 hybrid journals and 3 hybrid book series at no further cost to the author. All article types are included in the agreement.

To be eligible the corresponding author must be from Leicester and submit using their University of Leicester email address. Articles must be accepted after 1st January 2023.

Further information on the agreement is available on the Geological Society Website.

IOP Publishing

Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access in the majority of IOP's Hybrid journals. All articles will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. IOP will automatically identify qualifying articles and inform authors of their inclusion. Please visit IOP Publishing Support for further information.

Leicester authors can publish in list A, B and D of the full title list.

Microbiology Society

Leicester corresponding authors are entitled to publish open access in Microbiology Society journals without incurring an open access fee (article processing charge). Articles with a corresponding author using a University of Leicester email address on submission will be published open access under a Creative Commons CC-BY licence, and the final text will be deposited to the PubMed Central repository immediately on acceptance.

This applies to fully open access and hybrid titles. To be eligible authors must use their University of Leicester email address on submission. Full information on the Microbiology Society website.

Oxford University Press

Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access in 400+ OUP fully open access and hybrid journals, without incurring any additional charge. The deal covers research and review articles only, these will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence, except for society titles that do not offer a CC-BY option. OUP will ask authors to select UK Institutions (JISC affiliated) when completing the online licencing/payment process.

PLOS

Leicester corresponding authors can now publish in select PLOS journals with the publishing fee covered through the flat fee agreement. Please submit using your institutional email address and ensure your affiliation is University of Leicester. Journals covered through the agreement:

PLOS Computational Biology
PLOS Digital Health
PLOS Genetics
PLOS Medicine
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
PLOS ONE
PLOS Pathogens.

See this further information about the PLOS flat fee model.

The Royal Society

Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access, with a CC-BY license, in all Royal Society journals with the cost covered through the agreement. To be eligible the corresponding author must be from University of Leicester, and must select University of Leicester when submitting the article. Further information for authors is available in the Royal Society webpages.

Royal Society of Chemistry

Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access in any of RSC's hybrid journals, without incurring any additional charge. The deal does not cover RSC's gold open access journals and Chemistry Education Research and Practice (CERP). RSC will identify eligibility by corresponding author affiliation and email domain. Eligible authors have the choice of publishing under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) or Non-commercial (CC BY-NC) licence.

See this further information on RSC Read & Publish Agreement.

Sage

Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access in the majority of Sage's hybrid journals.

Subscription journals: Corresponding authors publishing in the subscription journals in the current SAGE Premier package, which offer hybrid open access publishing (SAGE Choice), can publish open access, free of charge. This allows applies to the IMechE Journal Collection and the Royal Society of Medicine Collection. Charges other than the author article process charge (APC) may still apply, please refer to individual journal submission guidelines.

Open Access journals: Corresponding authors publishing in most open access journals can receive a 20% discount on the open access APC price. The current participating Gold journals are in this list of titles.

Please visit the Sage website for further information on the deal, journals and author workflow.

Springer Nature

Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access in:

Springer portfolio (Springer, Palgrave and Academic journals)
Nature portfolio (Nature Research journals EXCEPT Nature Reviews, Nature Protocols, and SciAM).

Fully open access journals (BMC, Nature, Palgrave Macmillan and Springer Open) receive a 15% discount on the article processing charge (APC). However, the costs for publishing in these fully open access journals are not covered by the deal.

The full list of journals can be found on the SpringerNature site.

Taylor and Francis

Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access in Taylor and Francis hybrid journals that offer open access. Taylor and Francis will identify eligibility by corresponding author affiliation and email address.

After acceptance, Taylor and Francis will notify you that you may be eligible for the agreement, and the Library will be asked to confirm your affiliation to the University.

Please visit the Taylor and Francis website for further information.

Wiley

Leicester corresponding authors can publish open access in any of Wiley's fully gold Open Access journals, or any of their hybrid journals which offer their OnlineOpen option, without incurring any additional charges.

Full instructions and a list of eligible journals are on the Wiley website.