Unlocking Cardiff University research through “Read and Publish” agreements

Cardiff University’s Library Service has made a lot of progress over the last year working with JISC and other UK HEIs to unlock research by signing up to several Read and Publish agreements. We have signed agreements with major publishers Springer and Wiley, and with eight smaller publishers – Brill, Company of Biologists, European Respiratory Journal, IOP Publishing, Microbiology Society, Portland Press, Rockefeller University Press and Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). Collectively, the agreements cover the costs of Open Access publishing for Cardiff University authors in more than 4,000 journals.

The Read and Publish model offers an alternative to the traditional model where papers published in subscription journals remain behind a paywall for non-subscribers unless an additional Open Access fee (APC) is paid. The agreements, negotiated by Jisc on behalf of UK HE,  are fully compliant with current funder requirements, Plan-S and the 2021 Wellcome Trust OA policy. This enables researchers to continue publishing in subscriptions journals in compliance with funder requirements during the transition to full Open Access. The agreements combine journal subscription and publishing costs into an annual fee, with the aim of transforming the publication model to enable Open Access for all publicly funded research articles immediately on publication.