Open Access: Read and Publish Agreements

Augusta University takes part in multiple Read and Publish Agreements, which are contractual agreements with publishers to cover certain Article Processing Charges (APCs) for articles of affiliated authors. These agreements can also be called Transformative Agreements.

For more information, please reach out to the Scholarly Communications team at AU Libraries:

Jennifer Davis, Scholarship and Data Librarian - jdavis14@augusta.edu

Whitney Russell, Open Scholarship Librarian - wrussell@augusta.edu

Principles for transformative agreements typically include a number of components that are related to the transition from subscription-based reading to contractually-based publishing.

• Costs. Libraries seek transformative agreements to shift from paying subscriptions to paying for publishing with the goal of furthering movement toward an open access publishing ecosystem. Libraries may also pursue transformative agreements in order to attempt to exert control over rising payments for publishing, particularly under mandates for open access publishing.
• Copyright. Transformative agreements tend to require that copyright be retained by the author and not transferred to the publisher. Though this may be accomplished by the publisher procuring a license to publish, agreements increasingly couple copyright retention with a requirement that the author apply a Creative Commons license to the published article and possibly to the author manuscript version(s) as well. CC BY is very commonly recommended or required.  
• Transparency. Principles for transformative agreements often insist that the terms of any such agreements be made publicly available. However, though full contracts are sometimes made public (e.g. DEAL/Wiley), even the most staunch advocates of open access transformative agreements may only provide an overview of the key components (e.g., MPDL-Max Planck Society/American Chemical Society).
• Transitional. Definitionally, transformative agreements are transitional in that they seek a pathway for a shift away from payment to read and toward payment to publish. They are predicated on an end state in which subscription-based reading payments cease to exist. This end state may not be imminent but such is the goal — a shift to open access and the concomitant paying for publishing rather than reading.

Scholarly Kitchen - Transformative Agreements: A Primer