McMaster University has signed new agreements that will provide McMaster authors with immediate open access publishing capabilities in select Elsevier and Oxford University Press journals.

This equates to greater publishing opportunities for researchers, regardless of their career stage or whether they have research grants or departmental funding.

“The new agreements consist of some of the most notable and highly read publishers of scholarly works in academia, which include substantial contributions by McMaster researchers,” said Casey Hoeve, associate university librarian, Content, Access, and Open Licensing. “The opportunity to make these articles freely accessible stands to increase McMaster’s positive impact on research and innovation on a global scale.”

Through the Elsevier 2024-2026 agreement, corresponding authors affiliated with McMaster are eligible for unlimited open access publishing in more than 1,800 Elsevier Hybrid journals with no article processing charges (APC). Authors publishing in Elsevier’s Gold open access (fully open) journals will continue to benefit from a 20 per cent discount on their APCs in 2024, 15 per cent in 2025 and 2026, and 10 per cent in 2027.

The Oxford University Press agreement from 2024-2026 allows McMaster corresponding authors to publish fee-free in Oxford’s 350-plus Hybrid journals, with a 10 per cent APC discount for publications in Gold open access journals.

Both agreements were facilitated through the Canadian Research Knowledge Network.

Jennifer McKinnell, director of Health Sciences Library said: “We hope these agreements increase access to publishing for the entire research community at McMaster, including those individuals who historically may not have had access to other funding sources. We expect our graduate students and medical residents will also benefit.”

In addition to Elsevier and Oxford, McMaster has started new agreements with the following academic publishers:

• Berghahn Open Anthro: McMaster authors can publish without fees in 16 Berghahn Anthropology journals.
• Company of Biologists (OCUL): Starting in 2024, McMaster corresponding authors can publish open access research articles fee-free in the Company of Biologist’s five hybrid and fully open journals.
• De Gruyter Journals (OCUL): For 2024-2028, McMaster authors can publish open access without author fees in De Gruyter’s 450 fully open and hybrid journals.
• Portland Press – Biochemical Society (OCUL):  For 2024, McMaster corresponding authors can publish fee-free in all six of the Biochemical Society’s journals.
• Royal Society (OCUL):  For 2024, McMaster corresponding authors can publish without author fees in any of the 10 Royal Society journals.

Is a journal covered by a McMaster agreement?

The SciFree tool provides a central searchable platform for open access publishing opportunities at reduced or no cost. Start your search today using the McMaster open access publishing journal search tool webpage.

Learn more

To view a full list of open access publishing agreements available through McMaster libraries, visit the library support for open access webpage.

For questions or comments, email Janice Adlington, head of collections and content strategy at McMaster University Library at adling@mcmaster.ca or Andrea McLellan, head of collections and technical services at the Health Sciences Library at mclell@mcmaster.ca.