The Penn Libraries has announced new open access agreements with Wolters Kluwer Health and Nature, effective July 1, 2026. The agreements, which run through 2029, expand the venues where Penn‑affiliated authors can publish open access without cost.
Library leadership stated that the agreements advance Penn’s commitment to ensuring that scholarship produced at the university is accessible to the widest possible audience. Alexa Pearce, Associate Vice Provost for Collections and Scholarly Communications, noted that Penn’s research has greater impact when barriers to access are removed, and described the agreements as important steps toward opening Penn’s scholarship to global readership.
Penn authors publish more than 300 articles annually in Wolters Kluwer Health journals, making it one of the top five publishers of Penn scholarship. The agreement covers the Lippincott Williams and Wilkins (LWW) Total Access Collection, which includes more than 300 medical, nursing, and allied health titles. Wolters Kluwer also provides resources through the Ovid research platform and partnerships with over 150 publishers.
The agreement with Nature applies to primary research articles authored by Penn scholars, making them eligible for open access publication in Nature and its suite of research journals. Nature.com reaches more than eight million visitors each month, and its journals are widely cited and frequently covered in global news outlets.
By expanding open access publishing opportunities, the Penn Libraries aim to increase the reach and impact of Penn scholarship while supporting compliance with funder requirements that research be made freely available.
In addition to these new agreements, the Penn Libraries maintain open access partnerships with publishers including the Association for Computing Machinery, Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, Oxford University Press, Springer, Wiley, and others. A journal finder tool is available to help Penn authors identify eligible titles.
The Penn Libraries also provide ongoing support for authors preparing to publish, offering guidance on copyright, licensing, journal selection, preprints, publisher contracts, and related topics.
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