Effective January 1, 2025, the University of California (UC) and the open access publisher Copernicus Publications entered into a 1-year agreement that provides financial support to UC corresponding authors who publish open access in Copernicus journals. Authors at all ten UC campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) are eligible for this support.

The UC Libraries will cover 50% of the open access publishing fees, also known as article processing charges (APCs), for UC corresponding authors who publish in 26 Copernicus journals. This agreement has two goals: (1) to support UC’s mission as a public university by making more UC-authored publications open to the world, and (2) to make it easier and more affordable for UC authors to publish open access.

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Agreement Basics

What are the basic terms of the agreement?

The agreement runs from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025, and enables UC corresponding authors to publish open access in Copernicus journals with 50% of the APC covered by the UC Libraries.

How does the agreement work?

All journals published by Copernicus are fully open access. Copernicus charges APCs for manuscripts it accepts for publication in order to cover the cost of publishing its journals. Under the agreement, the UC libraries are paying Copernicus a single flat fee to cover 50% of all APCs for UC authors who publish with Copernicus. This enables UC authors to publish open access at a significantly reduced rate.

Impact for Authors

Am I affected by this agreement?

Yes, if you are (1) a UC affiliate (faculty, lecturer, staff, graduate student, etc.) at any of UC’s ten campuses or LBNL, (2) you are the article’s corresponding author, and (3) you choose to publish your article in an eligible Copernicus journal.

See below, “Which Copernicus journals are included in the pilot?” for the list of eligible journals.

Who is considered a corresponding author?

Copernicus considers the corresponding author to be the person listed as the contact during the submission/production/publication process, and who is identified as “Author for correspondence” on the final published article.

In general, the corresponding author is the person who oversees the manuscript and correspondence during the publication process — from manuscript corrections and proofreading, to handling the revisions and re-submission of revised manuscripts up to the acceptance of the manuscripts. The corresponding author has the authority to act on behalf of all co-authors in all matters pertaining to publication of the manuscript including supplementary material. The corresponding author acts as the point of contact for any inquiries after the paper is published.

Which articles and types of publications are covered by this agreement?

This agreement covers all articles containing original research that are accepted for publication from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025.

Which Copernicus journals are included in this agreement?

All Copernicus journals that charge flat APCs per article are included in the agreement. Copernicus maintains a list of such journals on its website. To look up whether a particular journal is covered and the amount of coverage provided, you can search by journal name in our Journal Open Access Lookup Tool.

Article Payment Process

If I publish open access with Copernicus, how do payments work?

To ensure that your article is properly flagged as eligible for the APC discount, it is recommended that you indicate your UC affiliation and/or use your UC email address during the submission process in the Copernicus author portal.

Other than indicating your UC affiliation in the Copernicus author portal, no action is needed by you as the corresponding author to receive the discount. Copernicus will email you an invoice for the remaining 50% of the APC.

If you do not see the 50% discount reflected on the invoice, simply reply to Copernicus’ email and reference the UC open access agreement. You may also contact your campus library or OpenAccessInquiries@ucop.edu for assistance. See “Resources” below for your campus library contact information.

Resources

What if I have questions or need help?

More information is available via:

Or from your campus library:

As this is a pilot agreement, your feedback is appreciated. Please submit any comments or questions to your campus library or to OpenAccessInquiries@ucop.edu.

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