KU Libraries Open Access Agreements and APC Discounts
Support for Open Scholarship
KU Libraries is committed to simultaneously providing access to the content needed for research and teaching and moving scholarly publishing toward a more sustainable future. We see open access as a key element to a more equitable and accessible scholarly publishing system.
In addition to supporting the use of KU ScholarWorks, the Faculty Open Access Policy, publishing open journals, and related scholarly communication services, we are actively working with a growing number of publishers to support open publishing opportunities for KU authors. The following programs either eliminate article processing charges (APCs) completely or discount them for eligible (typically corresponding) authors. All of the agreements below apply to KU Lawrence and Edwards researchers. KUMC researchers are eligible for some of the agreements as indicated below. See each agreement description or KUMC Open Access Funding Agreements for more information.
Agreements below, particularly those that eliminate publication fees, may be of particular interest to authors responsible for compliance with federal funding agency public access zero-embargo requirements. More information is available on the KU Libraries' Funder Public Access Policies Guide.
In order to benefit from these agreements, we recommend using your KU/KUMC email address when submitting an article.
If your article doesn't qualify for one of the agreements on this page, you may still be able to share your work openly in KU ScholarWorks. More information about these initiatives is available at the bottom of this page.
Association for Computing Machinery
KU Libraries participates in ACM’s Unlimited Read and Publish Model, offering unlimited reading and open publishing for the 2024 - 2026 term. Corresponding authors affiliated with KU Lawrence/Edwards may publish without paying an APC. There is no cap on the number of articles eligible for support. Full read access to the ACM Digital Library is preserved.
As of January 2026, 34 OA articles have been supported by this agreement.
Cambridge University Press
KU Lawrence and KU Med maintain a three year Read and Publish Agreement with Cambridge University Press (CUP), providing full reading access to CUP journals and waiving APCs for accepted articles in over 350 titles. KU patrons now have access to read CUP’s complete journal package. Corresponding authors must use their KU or KUMC email, opt into OA during submission, and select a Creative Commons license.
As of January 2026, 38 OA articles have been supported by this agreement.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
KU Libraries' transformative agreement with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press enables corresponding authors to publish peer-reviewed research, reviews, and case-studies in five hybrid journals. OA options will be communicated upon acceptance.
The Company of Biologists
KU Lawrence and KU Med corresponding authors may publish without APCs through a read and publish agreement in hybrid journals (Development, Journal of Cell Science, and Journal of Experimental Biology and in the open access journals Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open) under a 2023 - 2025 agreement. Articles are Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licensed, affiliation is determined by KU/KUMC email, and there is no cap on the number of articles that may be published under this agreement.
As of January 2026, 8 OA articles have been supported by this agreement.
The Electrochemical Society (ECS)
Through ECS Plus, KU authors can publish without APCs in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society and Journal of Solid State Science and Technology. Authors must select ECS Plus at the time of manuscript submission and there is no annual cap on eligible articles.
Emerald Publishing
A one year (2026) Read-and-Publish agreement enables KU Lawrence/Edwards corresponding authors to openly publish without APC payment in nearly all Emerald hybrid and OA journals. Up to four articles will be published under a CC-BY license as a result. Eligibility is verified via KU email.
Elsevier
The KU and KUMC Read-and-Publish agreement with Elsevier (through 2028) maintains read access and waives APCs for ~265 articles annually in most hybrid journals, while offering a 10% discount for fully OA titles (title search). Cell Press journals, The Lancet titles, and some society journals are excluded from this agreement. Corresponding authors must use KU/KUMC email and select a Creative Commons license upon acceptance.
As of January 2026, 515 OA articles have been supported by this agreement.
Frontiers
KU corresponding authors may publish without APCs in all Frontiers’ journals under a flat-fee institutional model, with articles licensed CC-BY.
Institute of Physics (IOP)
KU and KUMC corresponding authors may publish OA without APC with a CC-BY license in numerous IOP journals under a transformative agreement. Eligibility requires use of KU/KUMC email.
Lithosphere
KU corresponding authors receive a 20% APC discount for Lithosphere, using code GWLA-SAVE-K8W5. This discount cannot be combined with others.
MDPI
KU participates in MDPI's Institutional OA Program, providing a 10% APC discount across 360+ OA journals for any manuscript with at least one KU or KUMC-affiliated author.
PeerJ
KU submitting and/or corresponding authors may publish OA without APC in any PeerJ journal through a flat-free support model.
PLOS
KU and KUMC corresponding authors may publish in any PLOS journal with no APC through KU Libraries and KU Office of Research support. Authors must indicate KU affiliation via institutional email at submission.
As of January 2026, 55 OA articles have been supported by this agreement.
The Royal Society of Chemistry
Through a read-and-publish agreement with RSC, KU corresponding authors can publish OA in RSC hybrid journals by using their KU email, selecting the CC-BY or CC-BY-NC license.
Sage
A 2024-2026 agreement provides KU and KUMC corresponding authors a 20% APC discount for Sage OA journals, with eligibility validated via KU email.
As of January 2026, 18 OA articles have been supported by this agreement.
Wiley
A 2026-2028 transformative agreement enables KU and KUMC corresponding authors, as determined by use of institutional email at submission, to publish OA without APC in nearly 1,300 hybrid Wiley journals, with an annual cap of roughly 120 supported articles.
KU ScholarWorks
If your article doesn’t qualify for one of the agreements on this page, you may still be able to share your work openly in KU ScholarWorks, KU’s online institutional repository of scholarly work by KU faculty, staff, and students. Most publishers allow the accepted manuscript--the final draft that has the same content as the published version, but not the formatting--to be shared in an institutional repository. If you’re interested in seeing how ScholarWorks can help you make your work visible to a global audience, please send the accepted manuscript and a link to the published version of the article to Marianne Reed, Digital Publishing & Repository Manager, at mreed@ku.edu. This service is available to all KU researchers free of charge.