The agreement runs through December 31, 2026, and provides a 15% APC discount for authors at all ten UC campuses who publish open access with Wiley. It also makes open access publishing in Wiley’s hybrid (subscription-based) and open access journals the default for UC corresponding authors and offers them funding support from the libraries to help pay the open access fee.

For UC corresponding authors who publish open access in Wiley journals, the APC discount of 15% and the libraries’ payment of the first $1,000 of the open access fee will be applied automatically. Authors who do not have research funds available can request full funding of the APC from the libraries, ensuring that lack of research funds is not a barrier for authors who wish to publish open access in Wiley journals.

For details, see below under “Article Payment Process.”

UC is shifting its investment from paying to read Wiley journals to paying based on UC authors publishing in Wiley 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 (e.g. faculty, lecturer, staff, graduate student) at any of UC’s ten campuses or Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, (2) you are the article’s corresponding author, and (3) you choose to publish your article open access in a Wiley journal.

If you want to publish in a Wiley journal but do not want to publish open access, you can still choose to publish your article as paywalled (pay-to-read or subscription-only) content.

Wiley considers the corresponding author as the listed 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 the 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 original research and review articles that are accepted for publication in Wiley journals from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2026. Article types are typically assigned by journal production editors based on Wiley’s article classifications. If you have questions about whether your article type is eligible, please contact your campus library or OpenAccessInquiries@ucop.edu.

All of Wiley’s journals are included.

If you are an author at any of the ten UC campuses or LBNL and you wish to publish open access in a Wiley journal with financial support from the UC libraries, you will automatically receive a discount of 15% and a payment of $1,000 toward the APC. You also have the option to request full coverage of the APC from the UC libraries if you lack available grant funding to pay the remainder. 

To publish open access under the agreement, follow the steps below:

Indicate affiliation

• At submission, authors will be asked in Wiley’s author portal to identify their affiliation, and UC authors should indicate their association with UC.
• After acceptance, Wiley will also ask authors to identify the corresponding author; UC corresponding authors should again indicate their affiliation
• Note: it is recommended that authors use their UC email address from the beginning of the publication process to ensure they are properly matched with their UC institution.

On the “Open Access Selection” page in Wiley’s author portal:

• At acceptance, authors will be notified in Wiley’s author portal that they are eligible for full coverage of article processing charges (APCs) under a special agreement with UC and will be asked if you want to publish your article open access.
• The UC Libraries will cover the first $1,000 of the discounted APC. Authors with research funds can pay the remainder of the APC. Authors without research funds can request full coverage of the APC from the UC libraries.
• On the open access selection page, Wiley will provide instructions on selecting the funding option that applies to you:
  • If you have research funds to contribute the remainder of the APC:
    • Select option for “Yes, make my article open access.”
    • On the next page, “Open Access Payment,” the remaining APC charges will be displayed to you.
    • You will then be invoiced for the remaining balance of the APC.
  • If you do not have research funds to cover the remaining APC:
    • Follow Wiley’s instructions to click through to a webform where you can request full funding of the APC from the UC libraries.
    • The webform will ask you to identify the reason full funding from the UC libraries is needed from a list of options (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.). This is for aggregate data collection purposes only and does not impact your funding request.
    • After completing the form, you will receive email confirmation within 24-48 hours. You will not be invoiced for any amount and the request will be processed and paid in full by the UC libraries. You will be contacted if your UC affiliation cannot be verified.

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

Yes, you can opt out. Where and how you publish is your decision. The agreement with Wiley does not mandate open access publishing, nor does it dictate your journal selection. Rather, it makes the open access publishing option for Wiley journals more affordable.

More information is available via:

• Press release announcing the 2024-2026 agreement
• License agreement

Or from your campus library:

• UC Berkeley 
• UC Davis
• UC Irvine 
• UCLA 
• UC Merced 
• UC Riverside 
• UC San Diego 
• UC San Francisco
• UC Santa Barbara 
• UC Santa Cruz

Please submit any comments or questions to your campus library or to OpenAccessInquiries@ucop.edu.