Transformative agreements
What is a transformative agreement?
Transformative agreements, also referred to as transitional or “read and publish” agreements, are contracts negotiated between institutions and publishers that transform the business model underlying scholarly publishing towards a fully open access model. They represent a further shift away from a subscription-only model to one which covers both subscription payments (the “read” element of the agreement) and article processing charges (the “publish” element). In the UK, negotiations with publishers are led by Jisc Collections, acting on behalf of higher education institutions.
The University of Nottingham has signed a number of transformative agreements with publishers to enable researchers at the University to publish their research open access.
Articles submitted for publication in journals that are part of one of these agreements are not subject to an article processing charge (APC).
The following section provides details about each of the transformative agreements, including links to relevant publisher webpages.
You can also send us an enquiry to find out if your journal of interest is included in a transformative agreement:
Find out if your journal is covered by a transformative agreement (UoN login required)
Always check the agreement's terms and conditions to see which journals and article types are covered and to find out if you will be liable for any non-APC charges (for example page or colour charges).
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Until 31 December 2024, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham may publish open access at no cost in ACS journals (ACS Omega, JACS Au, the ACS Au collection, and all ACS hybrid journals).
The agreement applies to research articles only.
Research articles will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.
Corresponding authors will need to use their institutional email address and select their institution from a drop-down menu during the online manuscript submission process. Please read the ACS instructions on how to publish under this Read and Publish agreement.
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Until 31 December 2025, and subject to an annual cap, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham may publish open access in AIP's hybrid journals without needing to pay an Article Processing Charge.
The agreement applies to the following types of peer-reviewed article: Brief Communication; Communication; Conference Article; Fast Track or Article-FT; Letter; Note; Perspective; Article; Research Update; Review; Roadmap; Tutorial; Methods.
Note: overlength page charges will apply for articles accepted in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA).
Research articles will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.
Corresponding authors will need to use their institutional address and email address during the submission process. Author guidelines are available on the AIP Read and Publish page.
American Meteorological Society (AMS)
Until 31 December 2024, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham may publish their research articles on an open access basis in the following AMS journals at no cost:
- Bulletin of the AMS (BAMS)
- Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems (AIES)
- Earth Interactions (EI)
- Weather, Climate, and Society (WCAS)
- Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (JAMC)
- Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology (JTECH)
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences (JAS)
- Journal of Climate (JCLI)
- Journal of Hydrometeorology (JHM)
- Journal of Physical Oceanography (JPO)
- Monthly Weather Review (MWR)
- Weather and Forecasting
Research articles will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.
Corresponding authors should use their University of Nottingham email address during submission and select 'University of Nottingham' as their affiliation. Author guidelines are available at the AMS Author Information hub.
American Physical Society (APS)
Until 31 December 2025, articles are eligible for APC-free open access publishing as long as the corresponding author is affiliated to the University of Nottingham and the journal is a hybrid title listed below:
- Physical Review Letters (PRL)
- Physical Review A (PRA)
- Physical Review B (PRB)
- Physical Review C (PRC)
- Physical Review D (PRD)
- Physical Review E (PRE)
- Physical Review Applied (PRApplied)
- Physical Review Fluids (PRFluids)
- Physical Review Materials (PRMaterials)
Eligible article types include Regular Articles, Letters, Rapid Communications, Reviews, Perspectives, and Short Papers.
Corresponding authors should use their University of Nottingham email address during submission. For more information, please see the publisher's page on this agreement.
The agreement covers open access charges only: authors will be liable for any optional additional fees such as print colour charges and offprints.
American Physiological Society (APS)
Until 31 December 2024, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham may publish articles on an open access basis in the following APS hybrid journals at no cost:
- American Journal of Physiology (AJP) - Cell Physiology
- AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism
- AJP - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology
- AJP - Heart and Circulatory Physiology
- AJP - Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology
- AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology Technology
- AJP - Renal Physiology
- Journal of Applied Physiology
- Journal of Neurophysiology
- Physiological Genomics
- Physiology
- Physiological Reviews
Articles will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.
Corresponding authors will be offered a one-year APS membership free of charge (new members only).
Corresponding authors should use their University of Nottingham email address during submission.
Until 31 December 2024, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham may publish open access in the following Bioscientifica hybrid journals at no cost:
All article types are included and will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.
Corresponding authors will need to use their institutional email address during the submission process. For full eligibility criteria, please read the Bioscientifica Read and Publish page.
Until 31 December 2024, funded* corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham may publish open access at no cost in the following 34 BMJ hybrid titles:
- Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
- Archives of Disease in Childhood (ADC)
- ADC: Education & Practice
- ADC: Fetal & Neonatal
- BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine
- BMJ Innovations
- BMJ Leader
- BMJ Military Health
- BMJ Quality & Safety
- BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health
- BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care
- British Journal of Ophthalmology
- British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Emergency Medicine Journal
- European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy
- Evidence-Based Nursing
- Frontline Gastroenterology
- Gut
- Heart
- Injury Prevention
- International Journal of Gynecological Cancer
- Journal of Clinical Pathology
- Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health
- Journal of Medical Ethics
- Journal of Medical Genetics
- Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery
- Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
- Medical Humanities
- Occupational and Environmental Medicine
- Practical Neurology
- Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Thorax
- Tobacco Control
In addition, funded* corresponding authors affiliated to the University may also publish at no cost in the following 24 BMJ fully open access titles:
- The BMJ
- BMJ Global Health
- BMJ Health & Care Informatics
- BMJ Medicine
- BMJ Mental Health
- BMJ Neurology Open
- BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health
- BMJ Oncology
- BMJ Open
- BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care
- BMJ Open Gastroenterology
- BMJ Open Ophthalmology
- BMJ Open Quality
- BMJ Open Respiratory Research
- BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
- BMJ Paediatrics Open
- BMJ Public Health
- BMJ Surgery, Interventions & Health Technologies
- Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
- Lupus Science & Medicine
- Open Heart
- RMD Open
- Stroke and Vascular Neurology
- Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open
*Funded means an article which acknowledges funding from any of the following: Blood Cancer UK; British Heart Foundation; Cancer Research UK; Parkinson's UK; UKRI (AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, Innovate UK, MRC, NERC, Research England, STFC); Versus Arthritis; Wellcome Trust.
To comply with funder requirements, authors must select the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence from the journal.
Article types eligible under this agreement are original articles reporting on primary research.
Corresponding authors will be asked to indicate eligibility on submission by using their institutional email address and selecting their institution. Please see BMJ's Information for Authors page for further details about the agreement and instructions for authors at participating UK institutions.
Note: UoN authors not funded by the above-named funders can receive a partial discount on APCs in BMJ titles. Please see our APC discounts page for further information.
Until 31 December 2024, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham may publish open access in Brill's hybrid or fully open access journals without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC).
Article types eligible under this agreement are research articles, review articles and conference papers.
Corresponding authors will be asked to indicate eligibility on submission by using their institutional email address and selecting their institution. Please see Brill's Information for Authors page for further details about the agreement and instructions for authors at participating UK institutions.
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
From 1 January 2021 until 31 December 2024, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham may publish open access in CUP's hybrid or fully open access (gold) journals at no cost.
Article types eligible under this agreement: research articles, review articles, rapid communications, brief reports, case reports.
Corresponding authors must use their institutional address and email address during the submission process.
For further information, please read the publisher's CUP-Jisc Read and Publish Agreement page.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
Until 31 December 2024, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors can publish their research articles on an open access basis at no cost in the following CSHLP titles:
Eligibility will be determined by the institutional affiliation and email address used during submission. For further information, please read the publisher's page about transformative agreements which includes FAQs for authors.
The Company of Biologists
From 1 January 2022 until 31 December 2024, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors can benefit from unlimited open access publishing at no cost in the following titles:
Authors should use their institutional email address during submission in order to be identified as eligible.
Please read the publisher's announcement about this three-year Read and Publish agreement and their step-by-step guide for authors.
From 1 January 2024 until 31 December 2024, authors will be eligible for APC-free publishing in any De Gruyter journal type.
Authors should use their institutional email address during submission in order to be identified as eligible.
For further details, please read the De Gruyter page on open access agreements which includes information on the UK agreement.
Elsevier (including Cell Press and The Lancet)
Until 31 December 2025, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors (including those at the China and Malaysia campuses) will be able to publish on an open access basis at no cost in the following:
- Elsevier hybrid journals;
- Cell Press hybrid journals; and
- The Lancet hybrid journals.
This 'Read and Publish' agreement covers research and review articles (some exceptions apply in Cell Press and The Lancet titles).
Authors should use their institutional credentials (affiliation, email address) during submission in order to be identified as eligible. Please refer to the Elsevier page about the agreement, which includes instructions to corresponding authors.
Note: UoN corresponding authors can also receive a partial discount on APCs in fully open access Elsevier, Cell Press and The Lancet titles. Please see our APC discounts page for further information.
European Respiratory Society
Until 31 December 2024, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors may publish articles open access in the following ERS titles at no cost:
Most article types are eligible but please read the ERS page on the agreement for details of restrictions. Authors should use their institutional email address in order to be identified as eligible.
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Until 31 December 2025, University of Nottingham corresponding authors can publish on an open access basis without paying the associated Article Processing Charge (APC) in any journal appearing in Lists A, B, C or D on the IOP page of eligible journals.
The following eight journals are also included in the IOP agreement with UK institutions:
Eligible article types: primary research articles, including research papers, special issue articles, letters and review articles. Note: review articles in Reports on Progress in Physics are not covered.
Authors remain liable for any other (non-APC) publication charges that may be imposed by individual journals (e.g. page charges).
Please read the IOP Guide to submitting under a Transformative Agreement for further instructions.
The corresponding author will be required to provide their affiliation in the article submission form and in the article itself.
From 1 January 2024 until 31 December 2024, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham will be able to publish their research articles on an open access basis in John Benjamins journals without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC).
Corresponding authors should use their institutional credentials when submitting their manuscript. Please see the publisher's Read and Publish Deals page for further details about the agreement with UK institutions.
Until 31 December 2026, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham may publish open access in Karger's hybrid or fully open access journals without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC).
Corresponding authors should use their institutional credentials when submitting their manuscript. Please see Karger's Publish and Access Transformative Agreements page for further details about the agreement with Jisc institutions in the UK.
From 1 January 2023 until 31 December 2024, a full APC waiver applies to articles accepted in the following Microbiology Society journals:
The corresponding author should be affiliated to the University of Nottingham and use their institutional email address during submission. Please read the Society's page on this Publish and Read agreement for further details.
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Until 31 December 2024, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham may publish open access in Optica's core hybrid/fully open access journals without having to pay an APC.
Optica's partner journals are not included in the agreement.
To see whether your journal of interest is included or not, please consult the 'Core journals' section of Optica's publications page. Please also read the publisher's page about institutional open access agreements.
Article types eligible under this Read and Publish agreement are research and review articles.
Authors will be liable for any colour or overlength pages that apply.
Corresponding author must use institutional address and email address at point of submission.
Oxford University Press (OUP)
From 1 January 2024 until 31 December 2025, corresponding authors affiliated to the University of Nottingham (including the China and Malaysia campuses) may publish open access in OUP's hybrid journals or fully open access (gold) journals at no cost.
Article types eligible under this Read and Publish agreement are research articles, review articles, brief reports and case reports.
Corresponding author must use institutional address and email address at point of submission. OUP will ask author to select ‘UK Institutions (Jisc affiliated)’ when completing the online licensing/payment process.
For further details and full author instructions, please read the OUP page for authors at participating UK institutions. The workflow for authors is explained in this step-by-step guide.
Please note that certain OUP titles are not covered for UoN-affiliated corresponding authors and you will be liable for open access costs in the following journals:
- AJE Open
- Art History
- Biometrics
- BJR Artificial Intelligence
- BJR Case Reports
- BJR Open
- British Journal of Radiology
- Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan
- Chemistry Letters
- Dentomaxillofacial Radiology
- European Heart Journal Supplements
- Genomics, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics
- JBMR Plus
- JNCI Monographs
- Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
- Journal of Evolutionary Biology
- NAR Molecular Medicine
- Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics
- Radiology Advances
Until 31 December 2025, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors will be able to publish open access, with no APC to pay, in the following Portland Press titles:
Authors should use their institutional email address and affiliation during the submission process. Please read the publisher's page on this Read and Publish agreement for further details and FAQs.
Public Library of Science (PLOS)
PLOS titles are all fully open access and the University of Nottingham has signed up to a Flat Fee agreement with this publisher.
Until 31 December 2024, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors will be able to publish without having to pay an APC in the following PLOS titles:
Authors should use their institutional email address and affiliation during the submission process. A PLOS-produced video explains how authors can request APC-free publishing in the journals covered by the agreement.
Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)
Until 31 December 2024, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors will be able to publish research articles open access in the following journals at no cost, under the terms of a Read and Publish agreement with Jisc:
*(articles accepted from 1 January 2023)
Authors should use their institutional details (including email address) during the submission process.
Rockefeller University Press
Until 31 December 2025, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors may publish open access in this publisher's three hybrid journals at no cost. The eligible titles are:
Authors should use their institutional email address and validate their institution during the submission process. More details are available in the RUP Author Experience document and on the RUP 'Read-and-Publish' Agreement page.
Until 31 December 2024, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors may publish open access without paying an APC in the following Royal Society titles:
Corresponding authors must list their affiliation and use their institutional email address during submission in order to be identified as eligible for this 'Read and Publish' agreement. For further details, please read the publisher's Read and Publish page.
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Until 31 December 2024, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors will be able to publish on an open access basis at no cost in RSC hybrid journals.
This 'Read and Publish' agreement covers all peer-reviewed article types (full papers, communications and reviews). Editorials and Corrections are not covered.
Authors should use their institutional credentials (affiliation, email address) during submission in order to be identified as eligible. Please refer to the author guidelines on the RSC Read and Publish page.
Note: UoN corresponding authors can also receive a partial discount on APCs in fully open access RSC titles. Please see our APC discounts page for further information.
Until 31 December 2024, UoN corresponding authors (including those at the China and Malaysia campuses) can claim a full APC waiver for articles accepted in subscription titles that offer SAGE Choice (i.e. SAGE's hybrid titles). The SAGE page on the Read and Publish agreement with Jisc contains further information for corresponding authors.
Article types covered by the agreement are original research papers, review papers, brief communications, short reports and case reports.
Authors will still be liable for any non-APC charges (e.g. page/colour charges) levied by an individual journal.
A few subscription titles do not offer SAGE Choice and are excluded from the agreement.
Early career researchers may be interested in the series of webinars hosted by SAGE on topics related to research and the publishing process.
Note: UoN corresponding authors can also receive a partial discount on APCs in fully open access SAGE titles. Please see our APC discounts page for further information.
Until 31 December 2024, UoN-affiliated corresponding authors will be able to publish their research and review articles open access at no cost in the The Journal of Neuroscience (JNeurosci).
Authors will need to validate their institutional affiliation in the Society for Neuroscience submission system in order to be identified as eligible. Please see the SfN Read-and-Publish page for further information.
Until 31 December 2025, corresponding authors affiliated to UoN (UK) may publish open access in Springer, Nature Academic, Nature Research and Palgrave Macmillan hybrid journals without needing to pay APCs.
Lists of eligible titles in the Springer and Nature portfolios are available on the Springer page about the agreement.
The Springer page contains a useful guide on the workflow for authors, and the FAQs section provides details of eligible article types.
Note: UoN corresponding authors can also receive a partial discount on APCs in fully open access Springer Nature titles (including BioMed Central, SpringerOpen). Please see our APC discounts page for further information.
From 1 January 2024 until 31 December 2025, and subject to an annual cap, a full APC waiver applies in the following journals or platforms:
- Taylor & Francis open select (hybrid) titles;
- Taylor & Francis fully open access titles;
- F1000 Research; and
- Routledge Open Research.
The corresponding author should be affiliated to the University of Nottingham in the UK (UNUK) and should use their institutional email address during the submission process.
This agreement applies to research articles only. For F1000 Research and Routledge Open Research the following are also covered: method articles, antibody validation articles, reviews, systematic reviews, clinical practice articles, case reports, opinion articles.
Please read the Taylor & Francis-Jisc open access agreement page for further details.
You can browse through titles in your subject area by visiting the publisher's open access cost finder page: simply select a subject category and click on 'Search'. You can also browse by individual title.
Until 31 December 2025, a full APC waiver applies to articles accepted in Wiley's hybrid (Wiley Online Open) journals. A full waiver may also be claimed in Wiley and Hindawi fully open access (gold) journals, subject to a cap.
Corresponding author should be affiliated to the University of Nottingham in the UK (UNUK).
Wiley's author workflow enables the designation of the Responsible Corresponding Author (RCA) in cases where there is more than one corresponding author. The RCA role will identify the sole author who will be responsible for key post-acceptance actions and whose institutional affiliations will be used to determine eligibility for APC coverage.
The waiver applies to original research and review articles only.
Please read the Wiley page on the OA agreement with Jisc institutions for full terms and conditions.
Wiley's Journal Finder tool allows you to search Wiley’s journals by keyword and filter results by topic, subject area, and/or open access status. It also lets you compare up to four journals at a time and view statistics on acceptance rates, etc.
From 1 January 2022 until 31 December 2024, and subject to an annual cap, a full APC waiver applies to articles accepted in LWW hybrid journals, under the terms of the Wolters Kluwer-Jisc open access agreement.
The waiver applies to peer-reviewed research articles, including reviews and conference papers.
The corresponding author should use their institutional affiliation and email address during submission, and agree to the journal’s open access submission question.
Please read Wolters Kluwer's instructions on how to have the APC covered in eligible LWW journals.
Until 31 December 2024, a full APC waiver applies to research and review articles accepted in World Scientific hybrid journals, under the terms of the World Scientific-Jisc 'Publish and Read' agreement.
Please note that some journals may impose submission fees, page charges or colour charges for which the authors will be liable.
The corresponding author should use their University of Nottingham affiliation and email address during submission.
Please read the publisher's instructions on how to have the APC covered in eligible hybrid journals.
Note: UoN corresponding authors can also receive a partial discount on APCs in fully open access World Scientific titles. Please see our APC discounts page for further information.