Open Access at Meriam Library

The California State University system and Chico State has negotiated open access agreements with the publishers. These transformative agreements cover some or all of the Article Processing Charge (APC) for a specified time, and allow CSU affiliated authors to publish Open Access in approved journals. These agreements were due to the stewardship of CSU Libraries and advocacy of CSU authors and readers. 

Currently, Chico State is a part of four transformative agreements. Please see below for details and of each. This page will be updated regularly to include new agreements and to remove those that have expired. For more information reach out to librarian Pam Kruger pkruger@csuchico.edu

What is a Transformative Agreement?

The Efficiency and Standards in Article Charges Initiative defines a transformative agreement as "an umbrella term describing those agreements negotiated between institutions (libraries, national and regional consortia) and publishers in which former subscription expenditures are repurposed to support open access publishing of the negotiating institutions' authors, thus transforming the business model underlying scholarly journal publishing, gradually and definitively shifting from one based on toll access (subscription) to one in which publishers are remunerated a fair price for their open access publishing services. In other words, authors can publish Open Access since APC fees are waived or covered in some or all under these agreements.

Why publish Open Access?

• Increase visibility and access to your work, as it is not behind a pay wall. This means that your work can reach more readers.
• Get it into the hands of researchers in less privileged universities/countries.
• An Article Publishing Charge (APC) can cost thousands of dollars depending on the journal. This fee is now all or partially covered under this agreement depending on if criteria are met.

CSU-Elsevier

The current CSU-Elsevier Transformative Read and Publish agreement ends December 31, 2027. In order to qualify for an APC waiver, articles must meet the following conditions:

• The corresponding author must be employed by the CSU
• The article must be accepted for publication into one of the included journals. Use this journal search tool to see if your journal is included
• Articles must be accepted between 1 January 2022 and December 31, 2027
• Approval is mediated by Meriam Library. You will be notified by email that your request to publish open access has been approved

CSU-American Chemical Society

The current CSU-American Chemical Society transformative read and publish agreement ends December 31, 2025. In order to qualify for an APC waiver, articles must meet the following conditions:

• The corresponding author must be employed by the CSU
• Includes 60+ hybrid journals published by ACS
• If the author has received grant funding towards publication, this funding must be exhausted before requesting funding support from this agreement
• Articles must be accepted between 1 January 2022 and December 31, 2025
• Approval is mediated by the Meriam Library. You will be notified by email that your request to publish open access has been approved

Chico State- The Company of Biologists

The current Company of Biologists transformative read and publish agreement for three years ends December 31, 2026.

• Corresponding authors wishing to publish Open Access in all five of The Company of Biologists’ specialist journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open - can do so without paying an article processing charge (APC).
• Chico State authors can publish an uncapped number of articles in the above journals.

The Company of Biologists’ guide-for-authors provides further details on how to submit your work.

CSU/UC/SCELC-Oxford University Press

The University of California system, California State University, and 30 private academic and research institutions represented by the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC) have reached a four-year transformative publishing agreement with Oxford University Press (OUP) terminating on December 31, 2028.

The corresponding author must be a CSU affiliate (it is recommended that authors use their CSU email address)

Article processing charge (APC) waivers are determined as follows:

OUP Hybrid Journals

• Authors who have research funding available will receive a $1000 contribution toward the APC. Authors will be responsible for the balance of the APC.
• Authors who have no research funding will have the option to have the full APC covered by this agreement

OUP Fully Open Access Journals

• Authors, regardless of funding status, will receive $750 towards the APC. At this time a full coverage option is not available for fully open access journals.

Oxford University Press has created an author guide explaining the process.

Special thanks to Dana Ospina of CSUDH for permission to borrow text from a similar LibGuide on this topic.

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