Libraries Agreement With Cambridge University Press Will Help U of A Authors Get Published

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U of A students, faculty and staff now have an opportunity to publish articles in open access journals without paying an article processing charge, thanks to a new "read and publish" agreement between the University Libraries and Cambridge University Press. 

"The University of Arkansas Libraries is proud to join the growing number of academic institutions who support new business models for university presses and academic publishers," said Angie Ohler, associate dean for content and digital initiatives. "This agreement allows U of A authors to extend the impact of their own work globally while also fulfilling the promise of our land-grant mission in making taxpayer funded research publicly and permanently accessible."

The Libraries provide campus with access to over 173,000 online journals by entering into subscription agreements with various publishers. Typically, these subscriptions give the U of A access to the publisher's content. The new "read and publish" model, however, offers U of A affiliates both content and the opportunity to publish their own work in the very same journals they read. This model also advances open access by transferring the cost of publishing from individual authors to their institutions.

The Libraries will use this agreement with Cambridge to pilot "read and publish" subscriptions. Initially, Cambridge will waive the APC for 14 journal articles during each year of the agreement, if these articles are published open-access and the corresponding authors are affiliated with the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. In an effort to distribute these waivers equitably, the Libraries are reserving them for authors who do not have another source of research funding, such as a federal research award or foundation grant. An author may receive only one waiver per calendar year.  

Authors who wish to apply for a waiver to the article processing charge should follow the standard process for submitting a manuscript to a Cambridge journal and indicate interest in open-access publishing. When the journal editors accept a manuscript, the author can request the waiver through the Cambridge system. A designated Libraries team will evaluate the request and, if the author meets the requirements, grant approval. The entire transaction will take place on the Cambridge website. There is no need to process a check or transfer funds from one account to another. 

The Office of Scholarly Communications has published a Research Guide providing more information about open access, the overall "read and publish" program and the waiver application process. Specific questions can be set to Melody Herr, head of the Office of Scholarly Communications. 

"This agreement with Cambridge is really the result of a group effort, so here's a shout out to everyone who made it possible," Herr said. "I look forward to working with faculty and students to get their research published and make it available to the world."