OA Agreements & APC Discounts

Publisher OA Agreements and Discounts

The University of Toronto Libraries (UTL) offers discounts to eligible University of Toronto authors who are paying article processing charges (APCs) to make their research openly available. These discounts help to reduce the financial obligations on researchers.

Some of these discounts are negotiated into institutional licenses with the publisher or through paid memberships. For more information on UTL's ongoing work in support of initiatives that work towards immediate and barrier-free access to research, visit UTL Publisher Relationships.

NOTE: If you have a @utoronto or @mail.utoronto address it is always preferable that you use this when submitting your work for publication as many platforms automatically identify your affiliation with U of T this way. If you do not have a U of T address but are an affiliate of U of T this does not preclude you, but please be aware that there may potentially be delays in the process.

Questions? Contact the Scholarly Communications & Copyright Office

Fully-Funded APCs 

Discounted APCs

Fully-Funded APCs

Cambridge University Press

As of January 1, 2022, University of Toronto-affiliated researchers are eligible for unlimited, no-cost OA publishing in Cambridge University Press (CUP) hybrid or Gold OA journals via CRKN.  

  • The article must be accepted for publication within the term of the agreement (2022-2024)
  • The article must be one of five research article types, as defined by CUP (research, reviews, rapid communications, brief reports, case reports)

Who is covered?

  • Corresponding authors who are affiliated with U of T are eligible for a 100% coverage of article processing charges 
  • This includes graduate students. 

What journals are eligible? Cambridge University Hybrid or Gold OA journal

How do I apply this deal? Cambridge has published a Guide to Publishing OA under a Read & Publish Agreement

Canadian Science Publishing

As of January 1, 2023, University of Toronto-affiliated researchers are eligible for unlimited, no-cost OA publishing in the following five journals via CRKN: 

  1. Biochemistry and Cell Biology
  2. Canadian Journal of Physics
  3. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
  4. Genome
  5. Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering

Who is covered?

  • Corresponding authors who are affiliated with U of T are eligible for a 100% coverage of article processing charges 
  • This includes graduate students. 

How do I apply this deal? 

This discount is applied when an author indicates their institutional affiliation at the point of submission. 

Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP)

University of Toronto-affiliated researchers are eligible for unlimited open access publishing in  most IOPP hybrid and gold journals at no charge to the author for the duration of the agreement. This agreement is retroactive to December 15, 2021 and ends on December 15, 2024.

Who is covered?  

Corresponding authors who are affiliated with the University of Toronto. This includes graduate students.  

What journals are eligible? 

A list of eligible titles is available in the agreement document - See 'Eligible Publishing Titles' (Schedule 1, Section 3, p. 6).

How do I apply this deal? 

This discount is applied when an author indicates their institutional affiliation at the point of submission. 

Karger Publishers

The University of Toronto has entered into an open access agreement with Karger Publishers, that covers 100% of the cost of article processing charges. 

Who is covered?  Corresponding authors who are affiliated with the University of Toronto. This includes graduate students.  

What journals are eligible?  All Karger journals, including Karger’s Open Access and hybrid journals (subscription journals with an Open Access option). 

How do I apply this deal?  

  • When submitting a manuscript for publication, authors will be presented with a screen labeled “Open Access Agreements.” Under the “Eligibility Declaration” select “Eligible” and type “University of Toronto” in the free text box that asks for the name of your institution.
  • Once the paper is accepted for publication, the APC cost should be covered.  All entries will be checked and verified upon acceptance of the paper. 
  • Authors who do not wish to publish open access should select the “opt-out despite being eligible option.”  

PLOS Biology, PLOS Medicine, & PLOS Sustainability and Transformation

The University of Toronto initially entered into an open access agreement (the Community Action Publishing Agreement [CAP]) with the Public Library of Science (PLOS) through the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). This agreement was for PLOS Biology and PLOS Medicine and was set for expiry on December 31, 2023. A new PLOS agreement with the Centre for Research Libraries was negotiated in 2021 and goes into effect January 1, 2022 (see below for instructions regarding additional PLOS journals included in the new deal). This has extended the timeline until December 31, 2024 and now includes the newly launched journal, PLOS Sustainability and Transformation. 

Who is covered? 

  • Corresponding authors who are affiliated with U of T are eligible for a 100% coverage of article processing fees. 
  • If you are a co-author on a manuscript and the corresponding author is not from an institution that is a member, affiliated U of T authors are eligible for a 25% discount on the article processing fees (referred to as “non-member fees” by PLOS). This discount cannot be stacked.  
  • This includes graduate students

What journals are eligible?  PLOS Medicine, PLOS Biology the newly launched PLOS Sustainability and Transformation. See the section below for instructions speicific to PLOS ONE and all other PLOS journals.

How do I apply this deal? 

  • Upon submitting your manuscript to either PLOS Biology, PLOS Medicine, or PLOS Sustainability and Transformation be sure to list the "University of Toronto" as your institutional affiliation in the submission system, Editorial Manager.  
  • If your work is accepted for publication, PLOS will check this field and ensure that your benefits are applied to any publication fees.  
  • After submission, corresponding authors receive an estimate from PLOS’ billing system, Copyright Clearance Center, indicating the expected publication fees based on the current membership status of each author. If any author’s institution joins PLOS' journal communities before your work is accepted, your actual publication fee could be less. Results of any application to the PLOS Publication Fee Assistance program will not be shown in this estimate.

Visit PLOS’ Publishing FAQs for more information or contact scholarly.communications@library.utoronto.ca for further assistance.

All Other PLOS Journals

Negotiated by the Centre for Research Libraries (CRL) U of T has entered into a new agreement with PLOS that allows U of T authors full coverage of article processing fees within all PLOS journals. This deal expires December 31, 2024.

Who is covered?

  • Corresponding authors who are affiliated with U of T are eligible for a 100% coverage of article processing fees.
  • This includes graduate students. 

What journals are eligible?

PLOS ONE, PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Pathogens, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Digital Health, PLOS Water, PLOS Climate, PLOS Global Public Health

For PLOS Biology, PLOS Medicine, or PLOS Sustainability and Development, please see the section above.

How do I apply this deal?

When in the Editorial Manager submission system for any of the following journals: PLOS ONE, PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Pathogens, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Digital Health, PLOS Water, PLOS Climate, PLOS Global Public Health:

  1. Login as an author.
  2. Indicate what kind of manuscript you’re submitting. Progress-bar navigation will appear that allows you to jump to any part of the submission process.
  3. Jump to “Additional Information” in the navigation bar
  4. Scroll to “Publication Fees” 
  5. Answer with 2nd Radio Button: My institution will full or partially pay
  6. Select institution name from drop down

SAGE Choice Journals 

The University of Toronto has entered into an open access agreement with SAGE Publishing through the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). This agreement is in place until December 31, 2023.  

Who is covered?  

  • Corresponding authors who are affiliated with U of T are eligible for a 100% coverage of article processing fees. This includes graduate students.  

What journals are eligible?  SAGE Choice journals, including the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) and Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) journals. Some exclusions apply. 

How do I apply this deal?  

This process will begin when corresponding authors identify their affiliation to the University of Toronto. Refer to SAGE's user guide which outlines the author’s workflow and the article acceptance process.

  • After your paper has been accepted in a SAGE Choice journal, you will receive an email asking to select publishing route. This email will confirm that there is no direct cost for the author to publish work OA. 
  • Corresponding author is directed to SAGE Open Access Portal (SOAP) where they must choose to publish open access. 

Thieme Chemistry SynOpen

15 APC waivers are available for U of T authors publishing in Thieme's Chemistry SynOpen journal. 

Who is covered?  Corresponding authors who are affiliated with the University of Toronto. This includes graduate students.  

What journals are eligible?  This voucher is only available for Thieme's Chemistry SynOpen journal

How do I apply this deal?  Corresponding authors can:

  • Contact the Thieme Chemisty SynOpen journal's Editorial Office directly ahead of submitting your article for publication at: synlett_synthesis@thieme.de; or
  • Submit article, and the Editorial Office will check to see if APC vouchers are available at the institution.  Use of vouchers is being tracked manually on an institutional level by the Editorial Office.

Wiley Hybrid Journals  

The University of Toronto (U of T) has signed on to participate in a two-year open access agreement with Wiley through Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). This agreement is in place until December 31, 2024.  

Who is covered?  

  • Corresponding authors who are affiliated with U of T are eligible for 100% coverage of article processing fees. This includes graduate students.  

What journals are eligible? 

ONLY Wiley Hybrid Journals (List of eligible titles) 

  • Articles accepted for publication in Wiley’s gold journals are not eligible under this agreement. Authors will continue to be charged APCs for accepted articles in these journals. 

  • Eligible article types: case study, commentary, data article, education, lecture, method and protocol, perspective, practice and policy, rapid publication, research article, review article, short communication, and technical note. 

How do I apply this deal?  

  • This process is done automatically via the Wiley Open Access Account System upon article acceptance. Corresponding authors must identify their affiliation to the University of Toronto. Please use your @utoronto.ca email address when submitting your article. 

  • A CC BY Creative Commons license will be applied to open access publications.  

  • For full details visit Wiley’s ‘How to Order Hybrid Open Access’ webpage  

Discounted APCs 

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Corresponding University of Toronto authors are eligible for a $250 USD discount off APCs in ACS hybrid journals. Pricing will vary if you are an ACS member. Refer to the following ACS OA Pricing for transformative journals webpage for more information: https://acsopenscience.org/open-access/pricing/

This discount will be automatically applied once a researcher selects their institutional affiliation as part of the submission process. 

Once an invoice is paid, ACS is unable to offer refunds. Please apply applicable discounts before paying. 

BioMed Central (BMC)

University of Toronto authors are eligible for a 15% discount on APCs for articles published in BioMed Central, SpringerOpen, and BMC Chemistry (formerly known as Chemistry Central) journals. 

Once an invoice is paid, BMC is unable to offer refunds. Please apply applicable discounts before paying. 

BMC Chemistry

University of Toronto authors are eligible for a 15% discount on APCs for articles published in BMC Chemistry (formerly known as Chemistry Central) journals. 

Once an invoice is paid, BMC is unable to offer refunds. Please apply applicable discounts before paying. 

BMJ Open Access Programme

The University of Toronto is member of BMJ’s Open Access Programme, which grants corresponding authors a 15% discount off APCs.

How: This discount is automatically applied to the cost of the APC upon acceptance of your article. Make sure to submit your manuscript using your University of Toronto email address and select the University of Toronto as your affiliated institution in BMJ's ScholarOne system. 

Canadian Science Publishing Hybrid Journals 

Canadian Science Publishing (CSP) offers a 25% discount to University of Toronto authors on all CSP Hybrid Journals. 

How: This discount is applied when an author indicates their institutional affiliation at the point of submission. 

EXCLUDES: Arctic Science, Drone Systems and Applications, and FACETS

Elsevier

Corresponding authors who are affiliated with the University of Toronto are eligible for a 20% discount to publish in Elsevier's hybrid and gold Open Access journals through the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). This includes graduate students. This agreement is in place until December 31, 2023.

EXCLUDES: Cell Press, Lancet, and some other society owned journals are not eligible for the discount

How: Upon final acceptance of an article for publication, the corresponding author receives an e-mail with a link to choose publishing options and will be asked to choose their institutional affiliation from an auto-complete form. Please select the University of Toronto at this point. 

  • The author is presented with text which states that, as an author affiliated with a CRKN institution, they will receive a 20% discount on the APC.
  • Once the author has chosen a license (CC BY or CC BY NC ND) and completed the remainder of the acceptance process, CRKN is provided with a notification of validation within 48 hours.
  • Upon validation by CRKN, the author (or whomever they have designated as receiver of the invoice) will receive the invoice with the discount included.

Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)

U of T authors are eligible to receive 10% off APCs in MDPI journals. If you are submitting your manuscript using your University of Toronto email address then this discount will be applied automatically, otherwise authors will be prompted in the last step of submission to select the name of their institution from a drop-down menu.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS)

A discounted open access fee is available to corresponding U of T researchers. For current pricing, visit the PNAS Publication Charges webpage. This discount is applied automatically to your manuscript upon submission. 

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

U of T authors are eligible for a 15% discount when publishing in RSC hybrid journals. 

The APC discount is automatically applied acceptance of manuscript. Authors must indicate their institutional affiliation upon submitting their manuscript in order to benefit from the discount.

  • Using RSC's licensing system, the author will be prompted to select a standard license (subscription article) or open access license. If the author selects opens access, they are given the choice of two creative commons licenses. 

SAGE Gold Open Access Journals

University of Toronto authors, including graduate students, are eligible for a 40% discount to publish in SAGE’s gold open access journals. This agreement is in place until December 31, 2023.

  •  Click here to see the title list of participating gold journals
  • This discount will be applied automatically via the SAGE Open Access Portal (SOAP) when corresponding authors identify their affiliation to the University of Toronto during submission process
  • Where an author is eligible for more than one discount for gold journals, discounts cannot be combined but the highest discount available to the author will be applied to the APC

For more information, Please consult the user guide which outlines the author’s workflow and the article acceptance process.

SPIE

U of T authors receive a 25% discount on APC costs as part of SPIE Digital Library Subscription. This discount is applied automatically once a paper is accepted for publication. This discount applies to any paper that has at least one author (primary or secondary) who belongs to a subscribing institution. This discount only applies to fully open access journals. For more information, visit the SPIE Journals Open Access webpage. 

SpringerOpen

University of Toronto authors are eligible for a 15% discount on APCs for articles published in SpringerOpen journals. 

Once an invoice is paid, SpringerOpen is unable to offer refunds. Please apply applicable discounts before paying. 

Taylor and Francis Open Select Journals

University of Toronto authors are eligible for a 25% discount on APCs as part of T&F's agreement with the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). This discount applies only to Open Select Journals. 

Authors should select the Open Access Publishing option when submitting an article. When the APC quote is generated, authors should select University of Toronto from the drop-down menu. The APC discount will be automatically applied. Authors can select a Creative Commons license once they have accepted the APC quote.

Visit Taylor & Francis' website for further details on the process.

 

    Last updated: July 7, 2023