Open Access Publishing for Researchers

Open access publishing agreements 

CSU Libraries has negotiated several publishing agreements that enable researchers affiliated with CSU to publish their work open access at no cost. All article processing charges (APCs) are covered under these agreements by CSU Libraries. 

Fully covered charges

Association for Computing Machinery

CSU Libraries has signed an agreement with ACM for open access publishing in their ACM journals and conference proceedings, with some exceptions for particular titles. To be eligible, authors must:

  • Be the corresponding author of the article.
  • Be affiliated with Colorado State University and use CSU institutional email address upon submission.
  • Publish on or after January 1, 2023.
  • Complete ACM assignment of rights and permissions for all co-authors.

For more information, visit ACM Open Access Publishing Eligibility and Exceptions.

Cambridge University Press

The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries has an agreement with Cambridge University Press to support Open Access publishing. If you are affiliated with a participating institution, you can publish your article Open Access, at no cost to you, in gold and hybrid journals.

To be eligible, articles must:

For more information, visit Cambridge University Press’s agreement website.

The Company of Biologists

CSU Libraries has entered into a three-year agreement (2023-2025) with The Company of Biologists that allows corresponding authors to publish open access articles free of charge in the following journals: Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms, Biology Open. More information is available in their step-by-step guide for authors.

International Water Association

This agreement allows CSU-affiliated researchers to publish their work in an open access journal without incurring article processing charges. Please use your CSU email upon submission. For more information on types of publications, the peer review process, and IWA journal links, please visit IWA’s “How to Submit” page. Agreement ends December 31, 2025.

IOP Publishing

CSU Libraries has signed an agreement with IOP Publishing for open access publishing in their eligible journals. To be eligible, authors must:

  • Be the corresponding author of the article.
  • Be affiliated with Colorado State University and indicate primary affiliation upon submission.

For more information, visit IOP Publishing Support

Microbiology Society

This agreement allows CSU researchers to publish an unlimited number of open-access articles (OA) and provides unrestricted access to the Society’s journal portfolio. This deal encompasses all of Microbiology Society’s six journals including Microbiology, Journal of General Virology, Journal of Medical Microbiology, Microbial Genomics, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology and Access Microbiology.

For more information, visit the Microbiology Society’s agreement website.

Oxford University Press

CSU Libraries has signed an agreement with Oxford University Press for open access publishing in their eligible hybrid journals. To be eligible, authors must:

  • Be the corresponding author of the article.
  • Be affiliated with Colorado State University and indicate primary affiliation upon submission.
  • Publish a research article, review article, case report, or brief on or after January 1, 2024.

For more information, visit Oxford University Open Research: Colorado State University.

Royal Society of Chemistry

CSU Libraries has an agreement with the Royal Society of Chemistry for a limited number of vouchers that allow corresponding authors affiliated with CSU to publish articles in their hybrid journals. To take advantage of this agreement corresponding authors must use their institutional email and will be notified of their eligibility upon submission. This agreement expires on December 31, 2025.

Wiley

Corresponding authors affiliated with Colorado State University may publish one open access publication per calendar year at no charge to the author. To qualify, articles must be published in a fully open access journal (submitted on or after January 1, 2025) or published open access in a hybrid journal (accepted on or after January 1, 2025).

Discounted charges

CSU Libraries offers discounts on a portion of the article processing charges (APCs) for the following publishers. 

Elsevier

The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries has an agreement with Elsevier to support open access publishing. Corresponding authors affiliated with CSU are entitled to a 10% discount on article processing charges (APCs) for publishing an article. For more information, visit the Agreement between Colorado Alliance and Elsevier.

MDPI

Authors affiliated with CSU will receive a 10% discount on article-processing charges and book-processing charges. Authors must use their institutional email address to obtain the discount. See here for a list of participating journals and APC charges.

Sage

The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries has an agreement with Sage effective through December 31st, 2027, to support open access publishing. Corresponding authors affiliated with CSU are entitled to a 10% discount on article processing charges (APCs) for publishing an article. For more information on the submission process and eligible journals, visit the Agreement between Colorado Alliance and Sage.

SPIE Journal Open Access 

The SPIE Digital Library contains the world’s largest collection of optics and photonics applied research. Authors affiliated with an institution that subscribes to the SPIE Digital Library are eligible for a 25% discount on the fee to publish open access, reducing it to $1255.

Open access initiatives 

Open access is a collaborative, world-wide movement. We support the following open access initiatives: 

DOAJ – The Directory of Open Access Journals, an independent index containing over 17,000 peer-reviewed open access journals 

Knowledge Unlatched – offers a crowd-funding model that enables scholarly content (books and journals) in a variety of disciplines to be freely available. 

SCOAP3 – Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics  

SPARC – A global non-profit advocacy organization that promotes open access, open education, and open data