This agreement began January 1, 2021 and covers open access publishing in CSP’s hybrid (subscription-based) and open access journals. It covers 9 of the 10 UC campuses (UC San Francisco is not participating).  The agreement applies to articles accepted beginning January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2026.

Under the agreement, the UC libraries will automatically pay the first $1,000 of the open access fee, or article processing charge (APC), for all UC authors who choose to publish in a Canadian Science Publishing journal. Authors who do not have research funds available can request full funding of the APC from the libraries, ensuring that lack of research funds does not present a barrier for UC authors who wish to publish open access in CSP  journals. For details, see below under “Article Payment Process.”

With this agreement, UC has shifted its investment from paying to read CSP journals to paying based on UC authors publishing in CSP 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, and the level of contribution of research funds from authors.  

Cost controls have been put in place so that the total owed by UC in any year of the agreement is bounded, and APC rates will remain the same throughout the term of the agreement.

Yes, if you are (1) a UC affiliate (faculty, lecturer, staff, graduate student) at one of UC’s campuses other than UC San Francisco, (2) you are the article’s corresponding author, and (3) you choose to publish your article open access in Canadian Science Publishing’s journals.  Authors affiliated with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab are included in this agreement.

If you want to publish your article open access in CSP journals, UC has negotiated an agreement that will make it more cost effective for you to do so. If you want to publish in CSP journals but do not want to publish open access, you can still publish your article as paywalled (pay-to-read or subscription only) content in CSP journals. 

UC faculty, lecturers, staff, and students on nine campuses (other than UC San Francisco) will continue to have reading access to all of CSP’s journals.

Only corresponding authors are covered by the publishing aspects of this agreement. 

CSP considers the corresponding author to be the person listed as the contact person 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.

The agreement will apply to original research articles accepted for publication beginning January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2026.

All of Canadian Science Publishing’s journals are included, including both hybrid (subscription-based) and open access journals. You can find a complete listing of CSP journals on their website. 

The way the process works for authors who wish to publish open access with financial support from UC libraries (and whose articles were accepted on or after January 1, 2021): 

• Upon acceptance, select open access as publishing preference
  • Immediately after acceptance, corresponding authors will receive an email from CSP with the invitation to access the publishing system and review their manuscript. 
  • Once in the ScholarOne system, the second option authors will see is about their publishing preferences.
    • One of the preferences will be for open access publishing.  
    • UC corresponding authors should select this option if they wish to publish open access with financial support from the UC libraries.
• Complete form 
  • Upon indicating open access as a publishing preference, authors will be provided with a “University of California Open Access Payment Form” asking about the article charges:
    • In all cases, the UC libraries will contribute the first $1,000 of the Article Processing Charge (APC).
    • Authors will be asked whether they have research funding available to cover the remainder of the APC.   
    • The remainder of the APC will be indicated towards the bottom of the form, labeled as “Total APC cost remaining.”  
  • Authors will need to indicate whether they have research funds available to pay this remaining balance of the APC, or whether they do not have such funds available and need the UC libraries to cover the remaining balance.
    • If an author answers no, indicating research funds are not available for the remaining balance of the article processing charge:
      • The author will be asked to identify the reason full funding from the UC libraries is needed, from a set of reasons (e.g., the research is not grant-funded and you have no other sources of funding available; the grant budget did not include money for publishing; etc.)   
      • The author will not be invoiced. The request will be reviewed and if approved, the charge will be paid in full by the UC libraries. Authors will be contacted if an appropriate UC affiliation cannot be verified.
    • If an author answers yes, indicating research funds are available, the author will be invoiced for the remaining balance of the APC, which appears towards the bottom of the form, labeled as “Total APC cost remaining.”

• If you don’t have research funds and you want to publish open access, the libraries will pay your full article processing charge. See above under “if I choose to publish open access, how do payments work?”

• Yes. Where and how you publish is your decision. The agreement with Canadian Science Publishing does not mandate open access publishing, nor does it dictate your journal selection. Rather, it makes open access publishing in CSP journals more affordable. You can opt out. 

More information is available via:

• Canadian Science Publishing’s press release
• Announcement of CSP agreement
• Memorandum of Understanding

Or from your campus library:

• UC Berkeley 
• UC Davis
• UC Irvine 
• UCLA 
• UC Merced 
• UC Riverside 
• UC San Diego 
• UC San Francisco (not participating in CSP agreement)
• UC Santa Barbara 
• UC Santa Cruz