News and Events
New agreements in the US advance Cambridge’s open access publishing goals
Cambridge University Press has entered into two major new open access publishing agreements in the United States.
Transformative agreements with both the NERL and OhioLINK library consortia will support researchers at dozens more US universities and higher education institutions to publish their findings open access in Cambridge journals.
They are part of an unprecedented expansion in the number of transformative agreements that Cambridge has in the US. Since 2020 the number of institutions covered has leapt from 13 to 280, including a diverse mix of state university systems, liberal arts colleges, and major research universities.
Cambridge is committed to transitioning the majority of its research journals publishing to full open access by 2025, with transformative agreements an essential part of its strategy.
Kellie O’Rourke, Head of Library Sales, Americas, said: “These latest agreements are further evidence of the way Cambridge is leading the move to new open access journals publishing agreements in the United States.
“Transformative agreements like these were pioneered in the US by Cambridge University Press and the University of California system, and these latest agreements are the first of their kind to be reached with both NERL and OhioLINK.”
Research from NERL members alone accounts for over 25 per cent of Cambridge’s US originated output, so agreement with the consortium ensures a new and significant portion of research in Cambridge journals can now be published open access.
Transformative agreements cover the cost for participating institutions to access a publisher’s journals and any fees their authors would normally pay to publish their work open access with that publisher.
Brigitte Weinsteiger, Gershwind & Bennett Family Associate Vice Provost for Collections & Scholarly Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, worked closely with Cambridge to establish the terms of the partnership on behalf of NERL.
She said: “I am delighted that NERL and Cambridge could arrive at a mutually beneficial agreement that not only expands global access to the important research coming out of NERL institutions, but also secures the necessary funding for Cambridge’s publishing while remaining financially sustainable for all parties.”
OhioLINK Executive Director, Amy Pawlowski, said: “We are excited to more than double the number of Cambridge journal titles available online through our Electronic Journal Center, while also being able to offer authors uncapped, open access publishing at no additional cost to our members.”
Kellie O’Rourke added: “We have a long history of collaboration with NERL, and are delighted to bring this influential group of institutions into a transformative agreement. This partnership has huge potential to advance us toward our goal of becoming a majority open access journals publisher by 2025, and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to working with organizations of all types and sizes to secure sustainable open futures for the research we publish.
“It is also great to expand our journals partnership with OhioLINK institutions, and implement a sustainable way for every member to publish research open access. We are delighted that this consortium has chosen to work with us to deliver a first transformative agreement at scale across the state of Ohio, and that we can provide expanded value to the range of diverse institutions and organizations who will participate.”
