The University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries have joined Lyrasis in an agreement with The Royal Society to cover open access publication charges in the academy’s 10 scholarly journals. Manuscripts by UMass Amherst corresponding authors accepted since January 1, 2026, are eligible to be published under Creative Commons licenses (CC BY or CC BY‑NC) without cost to the author. The Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s national academy of science, transitioned its journal portfolio to full open access in 2026 with support from libraries and consortia.
As an early example, doctoral student Leticja Flamuraj and biology professor R. Craig Albertson had their manuscript, Integration and evolution of the cichlid pharyngeal skeleton: Seeking the causes and consequences of trait covariation, accepted by Proceedings of the Royal Society B with publication charges covered under the new agreement.
Between 2023 and 2025, UMass Amherst corresponding authors published 16 articles in The Royal Society’s journals, 13 of them open access. Open access articles are freely available for reading and citation worldwide, and authors retain copyright, enabling compliance with funder public access requirements.
The agreement is one of several that provide low‑ or no‑cost open access publishing options for UMass Amherst authors, reflecting ongoing efforts to expand access to scholarly communication while reducing financial obstacles for researchers.
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