Ohio University Libraries has reported continued progress in supporting open access publishing, with publisher agreements enabling 57 faculty publications to be made freely available in the past year. These agreements have reduced financial barriers for researchers by covering article publishing charges (APCs), allowing scholarly work to reach wider audiences without subscription restrictions.
In 2023–24, the agreements defrayed more than $227,000 in APCs for Ohio University authors. Since the program began in 2022, the initiative has saved researchers approximately $971,705 in publication costs and facilitated open access for 280 articles at no additional expense to the Libraries or the University.
Faculty members have noted the benefits of these agreements. For example, Dr. Sumit Sharma, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, explained that the APC waiver for American Chemical Society journals allowed his team to publish their work openly, which he considered valuable for reaching a broader audience.
Ohio University Libraries participates in OhioLINK, the statewide academic library consortium, which provides funding pools to cover APCs with publishers such as Cambridge, Elsevier, Institute of Physics, Springer, Wiley, and the American Chemical Society. Additional agreements with the Company of Biologists, BioMedCentral, and SpringerOpen extend coverage for some or all APCs. Faculty, students, and staff are eligible to use this funding.
OhioLINK’s annual funding limit for APCs resets each January but is often reached during the fall semester due to high demand. Researchers planning to publish open access are advised to confirm their OhioLINK affiliation with publishers once their manuscripts are accepted.
Ohio University Libraries maintains a regularly updated Funds Used by Publisher tracker on its Open Access Fees webpage, which also provides information about transformative agreements and open access options. In addition to negotiating agreements, the Libraries and OhioLINK offer guidance on open access publishing, including compliance with funder mandates and information about available journals and funding opportunities.
By supporting open access through transformative agreements and resources, Ohio University Libraries and OhioLINK continue to play a role in making scholarly research more widely accessible.
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