As one aspect of a broad, equitable, and sustainable strategy to support Open and Public Access to research, the Lehigh University Libraries have entered into Open Access publishing agreements. These agreements bundle subscription access to journals with the right for Lehigh-affiliated corresponding authors to publish eligible, accepted articles as Open Access. These agreements are often referred to as "transformative," "transitional," or "read and publish" agreements.
For both the Libraries and many publishers, these agreements are relatively new endeavors which each have unique aspects. Some of these variables are noted at a high-level in the table below, with more information available at the agreement-specific pages.
While offering Open Access publishing through these agreements is a positive step, it also carries risks. Historically, journal subscription prices have been high, with unsustainable annual increases. Adding Open Access publishing rights to these already costly agreements further reduces financial flexibility. Additionally, concerns about equitable access to publishing under large-scale transitions to these models should continue to be investigated and addressed.
Important Note
Publishing Open Access, either through these agreements or by paying a separate fee, is not known to be a requirement of any funding agency's policies. While many US governmental funding agencies are working on updating Public Access policies, these policies are expected only to require Public Access to articles, which can typically be met by posting to a Public Access Repository associated with the agency. As publishers have worked to commercialize Open Access, misinformation or misunderstandings around funder requirements have been common.
For any questions, please contact Phil Hewitt at pjh315@lehigh.edu.
Below is an overview of key, high-level details for Open Access (OA) publishing agreements supported by the Lehigh University Libraries. Please see the overview pages for each agreement for more information.
Publisher (Link to Agreement Overview)
Table Definitions
Article cap - a limit on the number of Lehigh-affiliated articles that can be published Open Access under the agreement.
Consortium - a cooperative association of libraries that coordinates resources on behalf of its members.
Cost-neutral - the agreement either did not require any significant additional added cost or was at a lower cost than similar, prior agreements. The value of additional access to journals is sometimes considered in this determination.
Gold Open Access journal - a journal that publishes only Gold Open Access articles, generally requiring a fee of the author, funder or institution for each article.
Hybrid journal - a journal that publishes both subscription-only access and Open Access articles.
Article Cap Notes
For the Springer agreement, more details are pending. The article cap is managed at the consortial level by Lyrasis, and articles are approved on a "first come, first served" basis.
For the Wiley agreement, the article cap is not expected to be exceeded according to projections from both the Libraries' and the publisher.