Our institution now has a growing number of open access agreements with publishers. These agreements — often called ‘Read and Publish’ or ‘Transitional’ Agreements — allow affiliated researchers to publish open access with the costs already covered.
It’s great news, but as the number of agreements increases, so does the complexity.
Some agreements cover hybrid journals only. Others include fully open access titles. Some exclude specific imprints, or sets of titles.
In short: keeping track can be a challenge.
Enter the SciFree Journal Search Tool
The SciFree Journal Search tool makes this process simple. Just go to the Publisher Agreements webpage and type your journal title in the Search box. You’ll instantly see whether it’s covered under any of our institutional agreements. No more digging through publisher pages— it’s all in one place.
Not Covered by an Agreement? You Still Have Options
Even if the journal you want to submit to isn’t covered, you can still publish open access:
1. Hybrid journals + Rights Retention
You can publish in a hybrid journal and use the Rights Retention Strategy to make your accepted manuscript open access through the institutional repository — at no cost. This is often referred to as Green Open Access.
2. Diamond Open Access journals
Diamond open access journals charge no fees and allow authors to retain their rights. You can explore these in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and filter for titles with no author fees and where author retains all rights.
3. Funder Pays for Open Access
If your research is funded by UKRI, Wellcome, or the British Heart Foundation, you may be able to use their block grants to cover the cost of publishing in an approved open access journal that isn’t included in our agreements or where the agreement only offers a discount. Ask the Open Research Team for advice. Award holders from other research funders may have access to open access funds through their funder, check our Funder Open Access Policies webpage or your grant t&c’s.
If you have questions or need support choosing the best route to open access, the Open Research Team is here to help
