Over the past few years, Universities have negotiated Read and Publish Agreements with some publishers that allow access to published content (the 'Read' component) and the ability for authors to publish articles via the immediate 'Gold' Open Access route without needing to pay a separate Article Processing Charge (APC) (the 'Publish' component). These agreements should make Open Access easier to achieve, in so doing allowing authors to comply with University, REF and Funder Open Access requirements.
Affiliation: To be eligible, the corresponding author must be affiliated with Coventry University.
Costs: These agreements only cover APCs, additional costs such as Page or Colour Charges are not covered.
License: If given the option, we would ask authors to choose a CC-BY licence wherever possible.
Submission: The following information is true for articles submitted after 1st January 2023 - if your article was submitted to either Cambridge University Press or a Hindawi journal prior to 1st January 2023, it may not be covered. if this is the case, please contact oa.lib@coventry.ac.uk for support.
Eligible Journals: Using Jisc's Transitional Agreement Look-up tool, you can easily check if specific journals are covered as well as being able to see a full list of journals covered by the agreements.
What is included?
A number of BMJ’s fully open access and hybrid journal titles are covered by our agreement with BMJ, including ‘The BMJ’.
Scope
Only original research articles are covered under the agreement.
Eligibility
To be eligible, the corresponding author must use their Coventry University email address during the submission process.
Licences
If provided with the option, we would ask that authors select a CC-BY (Creative Commons Attribution) licence where possible. However, some BMJ journals only offer a CC BY-NC (Creative Commons Non-Commercial) licence, unless the research acknowledges specific research funding.
More information about the agreement, including a full list of the journals covered (select “Coventry University” from the drop-down list at the bottom of the page), is available here
What is included?
There are many Open Access and Hybrid journal titles covered by the agreement.
Scope
Only research articles, review articles, brief reports and case reports are covered under the agreement.
Eligibility
To be eligible, the corresponding author must use their Coventry University email address during the submission process.
Licences
If provided with the option, we would ask that authors select a CC-BY (Creative Commons Attribution) licence where possible.
More information about the agreement, including a full list of the journals covered is available here
What is included?
The vast majority of Elsevier's hybrid journals, including Lancet and some Cell Press titles, are covered under the agreement, although their Open Access journals are not.
For Cell Press journals review articles and short survey articles are NOT covered. For publications in The Lancet, ONLY full length articles are covered by the agreement.
Scope
The following types of article are covered in most journals: Case report, Data in Brief, Full-length article, Mico-article, Original software publication, Practice guidelines, Protocols, Review articles, Replication study, Short communication, Short survey and Video article.
Eligibility
To be eligible, the corresponding author must be affiliated with Coventry University. At acceptance, the corresponding author should select the option to publish the research Open Access free of charge. If an author mistakenly selects the 'subscription' access option, then this can be changed by logging into the Elsevier author system and amending the 'Publishing Options' field.
Licences
If provided with the option, we would ask that authors select a CC-BY (Creative Commons Attribution) licence where possible.
Further Information
A small number of Elsevier journals operating in the Business and Finance disciplines charge authors 'submission fees' for each article submitted. These costs are not covered under the agreement.
A full list of the journals covered, is available here
What is included?
A number of Sage's hybrid journals are covered under the agreement, although their Open Access journals are not.
Articles published in Sage's fully open access journals will still incur an Article Processing Charge, on which we are eligible to receive a 20% discount on the full price rate.
Scope
Some article types, such as book reviews and commercially sponsored articles, fall outside the scope of this agreement.
Eligibility
To be eligible, the corresponding author must be affiliated with Coventry University. The corresponding author will be emailed directly with a link to make the article open access, with a set time limit of 2 weeks for a response. After this time a £400 charge (+ VAT) is levied that we will not cover. If authors miss this opportunity, the article can be published on a subscription model, and OA requirements can be met through the Green OA Route.
Licences
If provided with the option, we would ask that authors select a CC-BY (Creative Commons Attribution) licence where possible.
More information about the agreement is available here and here
What is included?
All of Taylor & Francis's 'Open Select' hybrid journals are covered by the agreement. Their fully open access journals and titles in the Cogent OA or Dove Medical Press portfolios are not covered.
Scope
Only certain types of article are eligible, broadly speaking these would fall under the definitions of a primary research or review article. Other types of article such as editorials, announcements and book reviews are not covered under the agreement.
Eligibility
To be eligible, the corresponding author must be affiliated with Coventry University.
Licences
If provided with the option, we would ask that authors select a CC-BY (Creative Commons Attribution) licence where possible.
Further Information
There is a finite open access fund shared by participating members of the consortia, which means there is a possibility that further restrictions around eligibility may be introduced toward the end of the calendar year if the fund is close to getting fully spent.
More information about the agreement, including a full list of the journals covered, is available here and here.
What is included?
The Wiley agreement covers Wiley's fully open access and 'hybrid' journals as well as Hindawi's fully open access journals; this includes the 40 journals published by the The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
Scope
Only primary research and review articles qualify for approval under the agreement.
Eligibility
To be eligible, the corresponding author must be affiliated with Coventry University. For publications in Hybrid journals, the corresponding author should select the ‘online open’ option on submission.
Licences
If provided with the option, we would ask that authors select a CC-BY (Creative Commons Attribution) licence where possible. Some journals published on behalf of academic societies may not permit this license, at which point we recommend the Creative Commons licence which permits the greatest extent of re-use.
Further Information
A small number of Wiley journals operating in the Business and Finance disciplines charge authors 'submission fees' for each article submitted. These costs are not covered under the agreement.
There is a finite open access fund shared by participating members of the consortia, which means there is a possibility that further restrictions around eligibility may be introduced toward the end of the calendar year if the fund is close to getting fully spent.
More information about the agreement, is available here
How is eligibility assessed where there is more than one corresponding author?
Publishers will be assigning one ‘responsible corresponding author’ (terminology used by Wiley) to each paper, this will normally be the author on the paper who serves as the point of contact with the journal for any administrative queries. The organisational affiliation of the ‘responsible corresponding author’ will determines whether the article is covered under an institution’s Read & Publish agreements.
Will these agreements impact on who gets chosen as corresponding author?
It is expected that authors will apply the norms and conventions within their discipline when selecting a corresponding author, and will largely base this decision upon the author’s academic contribution to the work.
JISC’s guidance around Read & Publish agreements does acknowledge that the selection of corresponding authors based on institutional affiliation is likely to be a consideration. This does bring with it the small risk of authors ‘assuming the role of CA either duplicitously or as a result of coercion’, or undeservedly based on the advantages of their institutional affiliation rather than their contribution to the research.
The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) offers some useful guidance and resources in this area.
Can I amend the Creative Commons licence after publication?
It is generally possible for authors to go from a more restrictive licence, such as a CC BY-NC-ND licence, to a less restrictive licence, such as a CC BY licence. Both Elsevier and Taylor & Francis have mechanisms in place to facilitate this.
However, it is not possible to go from a less restrictive licence to a more restrictive licence. Creative Commons licences are irrevocable, so if the article has been published under a CC BY licence then users can still re-use and share the content in accordance with this licence.
I accidentally selected the non-Open Access / subscription access route. Is there a way to change my publication choice?
Please contact our team at: oa.lib@coventry.ac.uk and we will seek to advise you. Under some of the agreements it may be possible for this to be changed but this will need to be looked at one a case-by-case basis.
I am looking to publish in a Wiley or Taylor & Francis journal and am concerned about the deal being ‘capped’ – how will I know if my article can be made Open Access under the agreement?
For authors publishing in a Wiley or IET fully open access journal, the associated Open Access costs get ring-fenced at point of submission - so the author can be assured that the Open Access costs have been accounted for in advance. If the article does not end up proceeding to publication then the costs get released back to the consortia to be assigned to another article. This arrangement should help ensure that authors are not met with unexpected costs once their article has been accepted.
If an author is publishing in a ‘hybrid’ journal (a journal which publishes a mixture of open access and subscription access article content) then it is not possible to confirm whether the article can be covered under the agreement until the stage it has been accepted for publication.
If the consortia ‘cap’ has been reached, or is close to being reached, and as a result an article cannot be approved for Open Access under the agreement, then the author will still be able to publish under the ‘subscription access’ route. Open Access to the work can then be provided by the 'Green' Open Access route by the accepted manuscript being archived on Pure.
If restrictions are introduced, then articles that acknowledge financial support from a UK Research Council, Wellcome Trust and a handful of medical funders which were members of the COAF scheme, should still be eligible to be approved for Open Access under the terms of the agreement.
Do I still need to add my article to Pure?
Yes. We would ask that authors still remember to add a record for the publication on to the Pure system.
Authors in receipt of NIHR funding submitting journal articles or conference papers can potentially apply for Open Access funding. The following policies and requirements are in place for the fund:
Open Access Policy: The publication must be in scope of the NIHR Open Access Policy and have met the policy's criteria. More information about NIHR's Open Access Policy can be found on our LibGuides.
Publication Types: The fund will support the publishing of all peer-reviewed research articles, including reviews not commissioned by publishers and conference papers.
Licence: The publisher must permit a CC BY licence to be applied to the final published version. NIHR may permit, on a case-by-case basis, the use of a more restrictive Creative Commons Attribution No-derivatives licence (CC BY-ND) for the open access version of a research article. Authors can request a CC BY-ND licence on an NIHR Open Access request form.
Costs: Funds from the Block Grant will cover the Open Access costs often called Article Processing Charges (or APCs) with any associated VAT or administration fees. It will not cover any further costs, such as excess page charges or colour charges.
Other Funders: Where relevant and appropriate, eligible APC costs should be split with other research funders, in line with the funders' relative contributions to the research described in the publication.
Full details about NIHR's Open Access Funding can be found here. The form to apply can be found here.
Authors in receipt of Wellcome Trust funding submitting journal articles, books or book chapters can potentially apply for Open Access funding. The following policies and requirements are in place for the fund:
Open Access Policy: The publication must be either in scope of the Wellcome's Open Access Policy and have met the policy's criteria OR be a research/study protocol, a systemic review, a scoping review or a meta-analysis authored by Wellcome-funded researchers and published in fully OA journals or platforms. More information about Wellcome Trust's Open Access Policy can be found on our LibGuides.
Publication Types: The fund will support the publishing of peer-reviewed research articles published either in Gold/fully Open Access journals or in hybrid journals which are on the JISC Transformative Journals list. Use of this fund for publishing in a ‘hybrid’ journal that is not on the Transformative Journals list will not be permitted. The fund will also cover funding for monographs and book chapters.
Licence: The publisher must permit a CC BY licence to be applied to the final published version. As an exception, you can ask for individual articles to be published under a Creative Commons No-Derivatives licence (CC BY-ND), so that your research cannot be used to create derivatives works without your permission. To apply for this exception, you should complete a CC BY-ND exception form. You will need to have your request approved before your paper is submitted for publication
Costs: Funds from the Block Grant will cover the Open Access costs often called Article Processing Charges (or APCs) with any associated VAT or administration fees. It will not cover any further costs, such as excess page charges or colour charges.
Other Funders: The open access publication costs should be split proportionately in line with the funders’ relative contributions, where the research reported is funded by more than one funding agency that mandates open access and the funding agency provides funding for open access. If research funders don’t mandate open access or if Wellcome is the lead funder on a piece of research, they are willing to pay the full open access fee.
Full details about Wellcome Trust's Open Access Funding, including details on how to apply, can be found here.
Coventry University receive the UKRI's Block Grant to fund Open Access Publishing. Authors in receipt of Funding from any UKRI Research Council (including Innovate UK and Research England) are eligible to apply. Full details of this fund can be found here.
Our Block Grant allocation for April 2023 - March 2024 is now in effect. Authors in receipt of UKRI funding (this covers UK Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England) who are submitting journal articles on or after 1st April 2023 can potentially make use of this fund.
Authors: The author must have received UKRI funding (from any UKRI Research Council, Research England or Innovate UK). This funding, including a specific grant code, must be acknowledged by the paper..
Publication Types: The fund will support the publishing of peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers. Long-form publications including monographs, edited works, book chapters cannot currently have open access costs covered from the Block Grant; however, we anticipate a central fund being provided by UKRI to support open access long-form publications from 1st January 2024.
Licence: The publisher must permit a CC BY licence to be applied to the final published version.
Costs: Funds from the Block Grant will cover the Open Access costs often called Article Processing Charges (or APCs) with any associated VAT or administration fees. It will not cover any further costs, such as submission costs, excess page charges or colour charges.
The University Open Access Publishing Fund can be applied to by researchers who are aligned to Research Institutes and Centres at Coventry University. It can be accessed to cover the costs associated with immediate (gold) open access to research outputs only. Associated costs such as page or colour charges will not be covered by this fund.
This fund is finite and applications to this fund are reviewed and approved by the University Panel Leads. Applications are checked and processed by the Research & Scholarly Publications Team in the Library - oa.lib@coventry.ac.uk
Following Research Centre / Institute internal review, the form should be completed as fully as possible. Emphasis on the justification for the funding of the paper is essential in terms of clarifying why there is value in funding a particular publication. The draft paper or author accepted manuscript must also be provided.
Submitted forms will be checked by the RSP Team in the library to highlight if other options (RCUK Block Grant or current publishing deals) are available, check journal or funder requirements and ensure funds are available to support the application.
If funds or alternative options are not available, the author will be informed immediately by the library. If funds are available, the application will be reviewed by the Panel Leads. Decisions will be agreed by at least 2 Panel Leads, with all four reviewing where there is any conflict of opinion. The Panel Leads decision is final and will be communicated to the applicant with confirmation of the funding agreed.
Outputs put forward for the University APC fund are reviewed on the following criteria:
Once approval has been received following an internal Research Centre review of a prospective publication, an application for funding can then be made via this online form.
When applying for funding please also upload a word or pdf document of the manuscript. The funding request will be passed on to University Research Panel leads for them to grant final approval. Once funds have been confirmed and allocated the RSP team will contact the author.
FL320, Lanchester Library
Coventry University
Frederick Lanchester Building
Gosford Street
Coventry, United Kingdom
CV1 5DD
Open Access and Pure Deposits - oa.lib@coventry.ac.uk
Research Data Management - rdm.lib@coventry.ac.uk
024 7765 7568
We hold regular drop-ins at all of our Research Centres. To find the next one, please see the full calendar of our drop-ins.