Transformative Agreements
Blough-Weis Library has negotiated some "Transformative Agreements" (aka Read & Publish Agreements) with several publishers. These agreements allow Susquehanna University authors to publish Open Access and get a discount on author processing fees with some or all journals from those publishers.
Susquehanna University currently has 100% Article Processing Charge (APC) coverage agreements with the following publishers:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Cambridge University Press
- Elsevier
Agreement details for each are listed below.
American Chemical Society
Who is covered?
Qualifying corresponding authors from Susquehanna University, a member institution of the library consortium, PALCI.
Which journals are covered?
Open Access or hybrid journals published by ACS. Which include: 60+ ACS Hybrid/Transformative Journals, JACS Au, ACS Au, and ACS Omega. Find a full list of journals on the ACS website.
What is the discount?
Every participating institution has a limited number of Read & Publish tokens, which cover 100% of the author's APCs through December 31, 2025. Stay tuned for agreement renewal info.
How can I apply for this discount?
A corresponding author must indicate affiliation with the participating institution by identifying it via a provided dropdown menu during the online manuscript submission process. It is highly recommended that corresponding authors use a current email address directly associated with the participating institution during the manuscript submission process. Next, the approved corresponding author (now Qualifying Author) will be offered the Open Access publishing option during acceptance of the manuscript. If the qualifying author selects this option, the article will be processed as part of this Read & Publish Agreement. That's all! A funding request is automatically generated at manuscript acceptance. The author does not need to take additional action to request funding through the agreement.
Which licenses are available?
All manuscripts approved through the agreement will be published under a Creative Commons, CC-BY license.
What is the business model behind this arrangement?
PALCI, a library consortium of which we are members, negotiated this agreement with ACS. In addition to open access publication benefits, participants in this special agreement will have full-text access to all current ACS Publications journal content.
For more information about our agreement and details on how to publish, visit the PALCI-ACS Agreement site.
Cambridge University Press
Who is covered?
Corresponding authors affiliated with Susquehanna University. As with all other TA's, articles must be accepted while the corresponding author is currently affiliated with SU.
Which journals are covered?
All Cambridge Core journals that are either fully open access or offer an open access option (hybrid journals). Visit the Eligibility Checker and enter your Country and Institution to see a list of all CUP journals included in our agreement.
What is the discount?
The Read & Publish agreement between Susquehanna and Cambridge University Press waives article processing charges (APCs) at 100% for qualifying journals for the following article types: research articles, reviews, rapid communications, brief reports, and case reports.
How can I apply for this discount?
See CUP's How to Publish Open Access Under this Agreement for more information.
Which licenses are available?
CUP offers Creative Commons licenses for articles published as OA. If no Creative Commons license is selected, the CC BY license will be applied by default.
What is the business model behind this arrangement?
Blough-Weis Library negotiated this transformative "Read & Publish" agreement directly with Cambridge University Press. In addition to 100% APC coverage for our faculty, the SU community now has access to more CUP titles than ever before through our library databases!
Elsevier
Who is covered?
Corresponding authors* from Susquehanna University. As with all other TA's, articles must be accepted while the corresponding author is currently affiliated with Susquehanna. Any article accepted between January 14, 2025 and December 31, 2027 will be eligible.
*The Corresponding Author is the single author who manages the publication process for an article from submission to post acceptance and corresponds with the publisher.
Which journals are covered?
All hybrid (i.e., subscription-based) journals owned and published by Elsevier. Cell Press journals are not included. Fully open access journals also are not included in the agreement. Here is the complete list of Elsevier journals covered under this agreement.
What is the discount?
100% of article processing charges (APCs) for eligible Elsevier journals are covered under this agreement.
How can I apply for this discount?
Upon acceptance of your article in an eligible Elsevier journal, you should be notified of your option to publish Open Access. There is additional information on the Elsevier Agreement webpage.
Which licenses are available?
CC-BY, CC-BY-NC, and CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons licenses are available.
What is the business model behind this arrangement?
This is a consortial agreement through the Lyrasis library consortium.
Is there a limit to how many articles Susquehanna can publish with this agreement?
Yes. Unlike some of the library's other Transformative Agreements, the Elsevier deal has a cap. In 2025, Lyrasis consortium members collectively can use 338 article credits. In 2026, the cap will be 406 articles, and 424 articles in 2027. These annual caps are based on members' publishing patterns, and the library does not anticipate exceeding these credits. Please note: Blough-Weis Library will not cover the costs of additional, individual articles after the cap has been met. Paying for individual article processing charges is not feasible or sustainable for the library's collections budget. The library will make a concerted effort to alert faculty if the university is approaching the article cap.
