Effective July 15, 2023, the University of California (UC) and the International Water Association (IWA) entered into an agreement that provides financial support to UC corresponding authors who publish open access in IWA journals. Authors at all ten UC campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) are eligible for this support.
The UC libraries will cover open access publishing fees, also known as article processing charges (APCs), in full for UC corresponding authors who publish open access in IWA 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
The agreement runs from July 15, 2023 to June 30, 2026, and enables UC corresponding authors to publish in IWA journals at no cost. The agreement also includes reading access to 15 IWA journals. Under the agreement, UC corresponding authors who publish open access in IWA journals can do so at no cost to them. Open access fees, also called “article processing charges” (APCs), will be fully and automatically covered by the UC Libraries for any author who chooses open access. UC is shifting its investment from paying to read IWA journals to paying based on UC authors publishing in IWA journals. Based on careful modeling of UC publication rates, baseline fees have been established, with the amounts paid in bulk by UC. The exact amounts paid will be determined by UC corresponding author choices to publish open access. Cost controls have been put in place so that the total owed by UC in any year of the agreement is bounded. 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 as open access in a IWA journal. IWA 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. This agreement covers all articles containing original research that are accepted for publication from July 15, 2023 through June 30, 2026. All IWA journals are included in the agreement. Under the agreement, your APC will be fully and automatically covered by the UC Libraries. To ensure that your article is properly flagged as eligible under the agreement, you must indicate your UC affiliation and/or use your UC email address during the submission process in the IWA author portal. After your article has been accepted in a IWA journal, IWA will ask you to complete a publishing agreement and select a Creative Commons license and will notify you that the APC will be automatically covered. Other than indicating your UC affiliation in the IWA author portal and selecting the open access option, no action is needed by you as the corresponding author. You won’t receive an invoice nor will you need to seek approval from your campus library. Contact your campus library: Please submit any comments or questions to your campus library or to OpenAccessInquiries@ucop.edu.What are the basic terms of the agreement?
How does the agreement work?
Impact for Authors
Am I affected by this agreement?
Who is considered a corresponding author?
Which articles and types of publications are covered by this agreement?
Which IWA journals are included in this agreement?
Article Payment Process
If I choose to publish open access, how do payments work?
Resources
What if I have questions or need help?
