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Cambridge University Press agrees 129 OA deals in the US

        

Read-and-publish agreements will enable US institutions to publish open access in CUP journals

Cambridge University Press has announced 129 new open-access agreements with institutions in the United States, including state university systems, liberal arts colleges, and major research universities.

This will see the number of US institutions participating in such agreements with the CUP rise from 13 in 2020 to more than 140, the publisher announced on 6 April. 

The “read-and-publish” agreements will enable US institutions to gain reading access to the publisher’s journal collection and to publish their papers in open access with the publisher in the framework of a single contract.

“Given that 75 per cent of journal articles published OA have more citations than their non-OA equivalents, and are downloaded multiple times more often, US researchers could be disadvantaged if their research is behind a paywall,” said Brigitte Shull, director of scholarly communications research and development at Cambridge University Press.

“As the US is a major producer of high-quality research, it is a priority for the Press to find a path forward in OA that works for this important market. Our goal is to bring the benefits of open access to all researchers, in all countries and of all subject disciplines, maximizing impact and readership.”

In total, the publisher has open-access agreements with almost 1,000 institutions across 34 countries.

“The sheer number of deals we have signed in the last year, against a tough economic backdrop, shows strong appetite and support for our push to transform our journals business to open,” said Chris Bennett, the publisher’s global sales director for academic publishing.

“We are committed to transitioning our research journals publishing to full OA by 2025 and transformative agreements are an essential element of this strategy, ensuring a sustainable future for OA journals. We have set this goal because we believe OA is better for researchers globally.”