Open Access (OA) is the default for research output at Maastricht University. UM and MUMC+ scholars can benefit from the many discount arrangements the library has made with publishers.
Publishing costs, including article processing charges (APC) to publish OA, are considered research costs. Still, the University Library has arranged (prepaid) discounts with academic publishers to enable UM and MUMC+ researchers to publish articles free of charge (or with a discount) in high-quality journals.
For a complete overview of our deals, see our web page: Publisher deals and APC discounts
The 2024 OA discount deals
Deals expire yearly, and with growing research output and decreasing budgets, renewing discount deals is always exciting.
The deals that expired in 2023 were with Cambridge University Press, Emerald Publishing Group, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Oxford University Press, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley.
When writing (30 January), contracts were signed with Emerald, LWW, and Springer Nature. Agreement has been reached with the other publishers mentioned, but the contracts have yet to be signed, which is why the website sometimes still lists 2023 as the end date.
Since contracts are regularly not concluded before the year-end date, there is fortunately always a grace period, so publishing at a discount continues on 1 January. So UM/MUMC authors can continue taking advantage of the deals.
You can always find an overview of the publisher deals on this page: Publisher deals and APC discounts.
New deals and deals expiring in 2024
Several deals are due to expire in 2024, so again this year, national negotiating teams have been assembled to sit down with publishers.
These include the renewal of the R&P deals with AIP, Sage, Elsevier, Emerald, Karger and Thieme.
In addition, several Read deals (without a publishing component) also need to be renewed, and exploratory talks will be held with two Full OA publishers, i.e. without a Read licence that can be used for negotiation. We will keep you informed about this.
How to make the most of our discount deals
At Maastricht University, there is no central budget for APC payments. This means the library does not handle APC invoices received by authors. The deals with publishers always arrange for a yearly fee (license payment) and APC discounts for individual authors.
The availability of an APC discount depends on different factors per publisher. Always check the publisher deal and the journal options at every step of the publishing process to avoid disappointment afterwards.
If you have questions or doubts, visit the Publishing & Open Access portal or the UMployee OA & OER group for information and support. You can always contact the library’s Scholarly Communications team or your faculty’s Open Science officer or support team for personal assistance.
FAQ Top 5
Below is an overview of last year’s top five authors’ questions and answers. The questions link to the answers on our Publisher Deals and APC discounts page, where you can always find the most recent information.
More information
If you have questions or remarks about this post or the services mentioned, please contact one of our Open Access publishing specialists, Ron Aardening or Michel Saive. Or submit a comment at the bottom of this post.
0 Comments