Why
In 2021, the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) reached a series of agreements with the major publishing groups to improve their terms of subscription, which have since become known as transformative agreements (TA).
Under the terms of these agreements, the fees paid by the institutions include not only access for reading articles, but also open-access publication in some journals, which had previously been subject to the payment of a fee, known as an APC.
The universities signatory to these agreements are given credits for open-access publication in certain journals.
As a member of the Catalan University Service Consortium (CSUC), the UOC is a signatory to the agreements with the publishers Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Emerald and IEEE. The university has signed individual agreements with ACM and Cambridge University Press which cover the period 2025–2027.
The aim of these agreements is to promote open science, with the objective of open-access academic publication being free by default.
The publishing sector contains a great number of journals that offer their articles in open access as the default option, making them available to everyone. The Institutions (for example universities, public bodies or non-profit organizations) that are responsible for many of these journals cover the publication costs.
However, this system exists in parallel with another: some publishing groups charge researchers a fee (known as an Article Processing Charge, or APC) to publish in open access.
At the same time, they also charge universities to read their content, typically though subscription packages.
This is what is known as double dipping, where universities end up paying both for publishing (APCs) and reading (subscriptions).
Similar to negotiations that have been conducted in other European countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) have been in talks with three major publishing groups, seeking to put into practice their commitments to open science.
Eligibility
Credits and discounts for open-access publication fees are available to UOC researchers and doctoral students. If you wish to apply, you must meet the following requirements:
- You must be the lead author of the article. If the article has several authors, the application must be made by the corresponding author.
- You must be a member of the UOC when the article is accepted by the publishers.
- You must have an ORCID iD uniquely identifying you as the author of the article. We can help you get one.
- You must have an active profile on GIR, the UOC Researchers' Portal.
Applications from doctoral students who are not registered on GIR or who don't have an ORCID iD may also be accepted.
How it works: step by step
The process is automatic and will entail no additional work for you or delay the publication of the article.
-
Submit your article
Submit the manuscript to your chosen journal. If the journal is covered by the agreement, the publisher will propose approval of the credit to the UOC after the peer review has been successfully carried out.
Clearly state your UOC affiliation in your article, use your UOC email address and your ORCID.
-
Your application will then be reviewed by the UOC
The university will approve or reject the application depending on whether it has any credits available and whether the publication guidelines approved by the Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer Committee have been followed.
The university may establish other complementary criteria, such as prioritizing articles with research focusing on the interaction between the human and social sciences, education, health and technology.
-
Decision
The journal will inform you of the outcome. If refused, the researcher will be responsible for covering the APC (as has been the case to date), which is normally paid by their research group.
After the article has been published, you must deposit a copy in the UOC's O2 Repository.
Journals where you can publish
See the full list of journals and the terms of the agreement applicable to each publishing group.
Agreements to which the UOC is a signatory through the CSUC
- Term of the agreement: 2025–2027.
- Journals covered by the agreement: see the full list.
- Beneficiaries of the agreement: authors of correspondence who are affiliated to the UOC when the manuscript is accepted.
- More information:
- Term of the agreement: 2025–2027.
- Journals covered by the agreement: see the full list.
- The APCs can be used to publish review papers and in journals that were formerly hybrids and have become gold open access journals.
- Beneficiaries of the agreement: authors of correspondence who are affiliated to the UOC when the manuscript is accepted.
- More information:
- Term of the agreement: 2025–2028.
- Journals covered by the agreement: hybrid and gold open access journals. See the full list.
- Beneficiaries of the agreement: authors of correspondence who are affiliated to the UOC when the manuscript is accepted.
- Things to bear in mind: publication is possible in review and primary research articles classified by Wiley as case studies, commentaries, data articles, education articles, methods and protocols, practice and policy articles, rapid publications, research articles, review articles, short communications and technical notes.
- More information:
- Term of the agreement: 2025–2027.
- Journals covered by the agreement: see the full list.
- More information:
- Term of the agreement: 2023–2025.
- Journals covered by the agreement: see the full list.
- Things to bear in mind: Publication is possible in all hybrid journals in the IEEE Electronic Library (IEL) and IEEE All-Society Periodicals Package (ASPP), including journals, transactions, and magazines.
- The APCs do not include fees for extra pages or colour.
- The agreement with IEEE also includes a 20% discount on the fee for open-access publication in all its gold open access journals.
- More information:
Agreements signed by the UOC
The UOC has signed an agreement with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), which gives the UOC community access to the contents of the ACM Digital Library and covers open-access publication fees (APCs) for the association's journals and conference proceedings.
- Term of the agreement: 2025–2027.
- Journals covered by the agreement: see the full list.
- Beneficiaries of the agreement: authors stating their active UOC email address and following the stipulated procedure after the manuscript has been accepted.
- More information:
The UOC has signed an agreement with Cambridge University Press which gives the UOC community access to Cambridge Core content.
- Term of the agreement: 2025–2027.
- Publications covered by the agreement: see the full list of hybrid and gold open access journals.
- Beneficiaries of the agreement: authors of correspondence who are affiliated to the UOC when the manuscript is accepted.
- More information:
Discount publishers
MDPI
Corresponding authors with UOC affiliation apply 10% discount. The cost of the APCs will depend on the type of magazine and the type of article.
Bentham Science
The publisher offers a 30% discount on APCs for all participating institutions. The discount is applicable to all subscription and Open Access magazines of the publisher. It also applies to books published with the publisher
