Open Access Publishing for Researchers 

What is Open Access?  

Open Access (OA) is the free, immediate, online availability of research articles coupled with the right to use these articles fully in a digital environment, as defined by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).  

There are two ways to make your research open access: 

1. publishing in an open access journal

or 

2. depositing a previously published article in an open access repository. 

The benefits of publishing open access include: 

  • increased visibility to a global audience 
  • generating more citations 
  • retaining copyright over scholarly work 

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. 

Questions? 

If you have any questions or concerns about these open access agreements or the publishing process, please contact Khaleedah Thomas, Copyright & Scholarly Communications Librarian, at Khaleedah.Thomas@colostate.edu
 

Publishing Agreements (Fully Covered Charges) 

CSU Libraries will fully pay article processing charges (APCs) on your behalf for the following publishers. 

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.

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 open access 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).

Please note that prior payment of Article Processing Charges (APCs) cannot be covered retroactively due to the reactivation of the new contract period, March 24, 2025 – December 31, 2028.

Publishing Agreements (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.

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 

Resources for Open Research

More steps CSU authors can take toward equitable, open access research: