Prominent Universities Sign Open Access Agreements with IEEE

The University of California and the Conference of Italian University Rectors (a consortium of state and non-state universities known as the CRUI) each recently signed what's known as a read-and-publish agreement with IEEE. The agreement lets the institutions' researchers access documents behind the paywall in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library, like traditional subscribers. The agreement also allows them to publish their open-access articles in IEEE periodicals without paying out of pocket.

IEEE open-access articles are supported by article-processing charges instead of subscriptions. In such arrangements, the APCs are paid for by the organizations where the researchers work or study.

IEEE publishes more than 200 leading journals and magazines, and the digital library contains more than 5 million documents including scientific journals, conference proceedings, and standards.

UC agreement covers all 10 campuses

The four-year agreement with the University of California lets researchers from its 10-campus system publish open access in IEEE's fully open gold and traditional hybrid journals. Gold open access refers to periodicals in which all content is freely available once published. Gold open access publications are normally supported by APCs. The university's libraries will cover the APCs, according to a news release about the agreement.

IEEE is a publisher of crucial importance to UC authors, who read and work with IEEE daily," IEEE Senior Member Solmaz Kia said in the release. Kia is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Irvine. I applaud this agreement, which enables UC authors to publish and disseminate their research without barriers, allowing for the widest possible reach of this valuable scholarship."

IEEE's chief marketing officer, Karen L. Hawkins, said in the release that IEEE is committed to exposing vital research to the global community and making the publication experience for the UC research community as easy as possible in the journals on which so many in the scientific and engineering community rely."

CRUI researchers can publish an unlimited number of articles

The CRUI signed an unlimited read-and-publish open-access agreement with IEEE. The three-year deal gives researchers from the consortium's 54 institutions the right to publish an unrestricted number of open-access articles in IEEE's hybrid journals and fully open-access journals, according to the news release. The cost of accessing IEEE Xplore content and the APCs will be covered by license fees paid by consortium members.

There is a provision in the agreement that publishing in IEEE open-access journals articles will be done with a Creative Commons attribution license unless otherwise requested by the author, the release said. The license lets others distribute, modify, and add to the article as long as the author is credited for the original version.

We look forward to working with more institutions to create agreements that allow IEEE to share the work of leading researchers with the global research community to further scientific and engineering progress."

In recent years, the Conferenza dei Rettori delle Universita Italiane [CRUI] has signed various agreements fostering open-access publication by affiliated members," IEEE Member Ferruccio Resta, president of the CRUI, said in the release. Nevertheless, what makes the collaboration with IEEE significant is the possibility for authors to publish both in hybrid and gold journals at no additional cost and an unlimited number [of articles]. Expectations are high, and the CRUI is extremely happy to announce this cooperation that contributes to [boosting] the competitiveness of the Italian educational and research system."

Hawkins said the agreement will provide Italian scholars with a wide array of open-access publishing options across our highly cited portfolio of journals."

The agreement is the latest in a series of open-access arrangements IEEE has launched, she noted, adding, We look forward to working with more institutions to create agreements that allow IEEE to share the work of leading researchers with the global research community to further scientific and engineering progress."

Visit IEEE Open to learn more about the IEEE open-access options for authors and institutions and to see the list of more than 300 institutions that already have an agreement.