About Transformative Agreements
Transformative Agreements, sometimes called "Read and Publish" Agreements, are a different publishing model where the library partners with publishers to help cover article processing charges (APCs) for their users rather than paying for a subscription. The result is discounted or waived APCs for authors from that University if they publish in one of the agreed upon open access journals provided by the publisher.
Transformative Agreements are a unique option for Open Access publishing available to UW faculty, staff, and students. Please note that these agreements are constantly changing or being updated; UW cannot guarantee redemption of a listed agreement benefit to all authors who apply during the publication process.
If you have any further questions about Transformative Agreements, please contact us.
Current Transformative Agreements at UW
More than 350 CUP journals participate in this agreement. For a full list of journals, please click here. UW authors can publish their work in these journals without incurring an APC. There is no limit on the number of articles that can be published for free in a given year.
For a full instructional guide for authors on how to submit, please see this PDF file.
UW authors can publish their work in Company of Biologists’ journals without incurring an APC. There is no limit on the number of articles that can be published for free in a given year.
The publisher has provided a full step-by-step guide on how to utilize this agreement - please see this link here.
UW authors will receive a 10% discount on APCs for work published in hybrid or gold Elsevier journals. You can search whether your desired journal is included in the agreement with this link here.
More than 70 journals participate in this agreement. For a full list of titles, please click here. UW authors can publish their work in these journals without incurring an APC. There is no limit on the number of articles that can be published for free in a given year, and published articles must use a CC-BY 4.0 license.
A full guide for authors on how to submit to IOP has been provided by the publisher here.
The following journals are covered under this agreement: Microbiology, Journal of General Virology, Journal of Medical Microbiology, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, Microbial Genomics, and Access Microbiology. There is no limit on the number of articles that can be published for free in a given year.
More than 40 journals are covered in this agreement. For a full list of titles, please click here. UW authors can publish their work in these journals without incurring an APC. There is no limit on the number of articles that can be published for free in a given year.
From the publisher website, here are their instructions:
- Double-check that you are listed as the corresponding author, both in our online submission system and in your manuscript
- Use your official institutional email address to submit your manuscript (this helps us to identify you)
- State your institute affiliation and email address in your manuscript and make sure this remains the same, even after submission
- Do not sign the standard license to publish; upon acceptance of your manuscript, you will be able to choose and sign the CC BY or CC BY-NC open access license.
For detailed author instructions, please see this PDF file.
More than 2,000 journals are covered in this agreement. For a full list of titles, please click here. This agreement will automatically cover the APCs for approximately 530 articles per year shared with the GWLA consortium on a first come, first served basis. UW Libraries cannot guarantee or set aside a free APC with the agreement. Once your article has been accepted, if there are still slots available you will be able to apply with the instructions below; otherwise it will say "no agreement available" for your chosen institution. These available slots will reset at the beginning of the calendar year.
For author instructions, please see this PDF file
Springer Nature has released an author guide for the GWLA consortium, viewable here.
Transformative Agreements FAQs
This depends on the publisher and agreement; additionally, journals that are included often update annually at the jurisdiction of the publisher themselves. For a complete list of what is included, please review the links for each publisher in the Current Agreements section. If you notice a list out of date, please contact us.
For most publishers we have a Transformative Agreement with, you should automatically get the appointed benefit upon applying and having a publication accepted as long as you specify your institutional affiliation and uwyo.edu email. However, some publishers may have special instructions or steps, so please review the agreement you wish to use and read the information before applying.
This can depend - sometimes we are approached by publishers and vendors directly, other times they are additional services we can add on annually when we renew our regular subscriptions. UW Libraries always strives to make the best resources available to our authors, and do what we can to offer agreements that meet the needs and most prolific fields being published in.
The exact Transformative Agreements, included journals, and benefit terms are subject to change annually. Please review this page prior to publishing to make sure you are applying for a current benefit.
UW Libraries wishes we could cover the publishing needs of every UW author, but unfortunately, we have little control over what journals a publisher chooses to include in the Transformative Agreement. If your dream journal isn't listed, but you still want to publish Open Access, there may be a peer journal from either the same or a different publisher we do have an agreement with.
Unfortunately, UW does not currently have additional funds to help cover authors APC charges. Outside of Transformative Agreements, we offer other OA publishing services such as space in WyoScholar, our Institutional Repository. More information on publishing options can be found within other pages of this LibGuide. For one on one help in looking at options for covering APCs, please contact contact us.
