University Libraries

University Libraries expands open access support via 3 new BTAA agreements

Penn State University Libraries leaders, faculty librarians and staff are longtime advocates of open access to scholarly research. They continue to negotiate with scholarly publishers to expand access to scholarly content and promote open access (OA) publishing to increase visibility of Penn State research.  Credit: Penn State University Libraries / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. —  Penn State University Libraries, through the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA), recently finalized three-year, 2023-25 agreements with three scholarly publishers. The agreements with Wiley, Institute of Physics and Microbiology Society will help to expand access to scholarly content, promote open access (OA) publishing and increase visibility of Penn State research. 

“We are excited about these new OA agreements with three key publishing partners,” said Mihoko Hosoi, associate dean for collections, research and scholarly communications, University Libraries. “With these agreements facilitated through BTAA, Penn State corresponding authors’ work can be published in both hybrid and pure gold OA journals and can be immediately open and visible without incurring additional cost for authors, libraries or readers. We are thrilled that we were able to increase access to Penn State research.” 

These agreements join a growing list of University Libraries' support for open access publishing, including similar agreements with Cambridge University Press, Public Library of Science and SAGE. They also support open access through the implementation of Penn State’s open access policy by funding open access monograph publishing by university presses through the TOME Initiative and the Libraries Open Publishing Program

The agreements with Wiley, Institute of Physics (IOP) and Microbiology Society cover OA publishing charges for Penn State corresponding authors publishing in these publishers’ journals. Those qualified articles will be immediately open access on the publisher’s platform. These publishers will offer a choice of open access licenses to Penn State authors publishing in their journals. Authors retain copyright in their articles.   

The agreements run for three years from Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2025. In general, articles will need to be accepted during the agreements’ timeframe. The agreements also cover subscriptions and read access to Wiley, Institute of Physics (IOP) and Microbiology Society journals. Unlimited open access publishing is included with no additional cost to individual Penn State authors.  

The following provides guidance for Penn State authors:   

Wiley 

Penn State corresponding authors can publish open access in Wiley hybrid and gold/fully OA journals, including those from Hindawi, at no additional charge. To take advantage of this opportunity, authors should list their Penn State affiliation and Penn State email address when they submit their articles. There is no code to enter. Penn State corresponding authors whose articles are accepted in a Wiley hybrid journal or submitted to a Wiley Gold or Hindawi journal between Jan. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2025, will automatically be offered free OA publishing. 

Institute of Physics (IOP) 

Penn State corresponding authors can publish open access in eligible IOP journals, including most gold and hybrid OA journals, with no additional charge. Excluded journals are American Astronomical Society (AAS) journals, some society titles that do not allow OA publishing, fully OA journals that do not charge OA fees, and translated and conference titles. To take advantage of this opportunity, authors should list their Penn State affiliation and Penn State email address when they submit their articles. There is no code to enter. Penn State corresponding authors publishing in eligible journals will automatically be offered free OA publishing for primary research articles accepted between Jan. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2025.

Microbiology Society 

Penn State corresponding authors can publish open access in all hybrid and fully/gold open access Microbiology Society journals at no additional charge. To take advantage of this opportunity, authors should list their Penn State affiliation and Penn State email address when they submit their articles. There is no code to enter. Penn State corresponding authors whose articles are accepted in a Microbiology Society journal between Jan. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2025, will automatically be offered free OA publishing. 

For additional details, see the BTAA announcements for Wiley, IOP and Microbiology Society. Penn State faculty authors seeking more information about OA publishing and discounts for author publishing charges are encouraged to visit the Libraries’ Open Access LibGuide under the section “APC Discounts for PSU Authors.” 

For more information about open access initiatives supported by the University Libraries, users and researchers should send inquiries to openaccess@psu.edu

Last Updated February 20, 2023