The Penn Libraries have entered a two-year open access agreement with Oxford University Press (OUP), which will run through 2027. OUP is the largest university press and publishes more than 500 hybrid and fully open access journals across humanities, social sciences, law, life sciences, mathematics, physical sciences, and medicine.
Under the agreement, Penn-affiliated authors will be able to publish open access in both hybrid and fully open access (gold) journals without paying article processing charges (APCs). The Penn community will also retain access to all OUP journal content. The agreement is uncapped, with no limit on the number of eligible articles that can be published annually or over the duration of the agreement. Eligible articles include those containing substantive research or review content, such as research articles, review articles, brief reports, and case reports.
Through open access agreements with publishers such as OUP, the Penn Libraries have enabled approximately 60% of Penn-authored scholarly publications to be published through open access models. These agreements are intended to expand the reach and visibility of research outputs and increase accessibility to scholarly content.
Open access publishing has been associated with higher citation rates and broader dissemination across geographic regions, institutions, and disciplines. Increased accessibility supports further research activity and contributes to the application of knowledge in areas such as governmental policies, medical breakthroughs, and investment in new technologies. Open access has also been identified as a factor in strengthening public trust in science and higher education.
As of 2026, most U.S. federal research funders require immediate public access to published research outputs. The agreement supports compliance with these mandates while providing a cost-effective framework for publishing.
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