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There are an increasing number of open access publishing arrangements and discounts available to St George’s, University of London researchers.

On this page you'll find information about our read and publish agreements plus our agreement with fully open access publisher PLOS (all negotiated nationally by Jisc), along with eligibilty requirements including who can apply.

There is also a separate list below of the funder open access publishing platforms, and a section where green open access (making your final accepted manuscript openly available) is explained.

For those authors who are seeking to publish open access where a fee is required, guidance on identifying funding before submission is explained towards the end of this page. 

Read and Publish deals

Read and publish agreements allow SGUL staff & students have access to read articles in the journals covered, PLUS, where the SGUL researcher is the corresponding author, the article can be published under CC-BY licence allowing compliance with funder mandates. For many journal titles this means there is no extra cost to the researcher; for some journals, a discount is possible, and authors will need to identify funding for the remainder of the charge before submission. 

The deals are arranged by publisher. Thinking of a journal but don't know who publishes it? Use the Sherpa Romeo look up tool. Confused about the terminology? Have a look at our Open Access FAQs page where there is a glossary and a decision tree that you can use  at various stages of the publication process.

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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
What is the agreement?

St George’s has a subscription which offers our authors a 10% discount on the open access charge for publishing in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) journal  Science Advances, during the term of the agreement (which has been renewed to cover up to 31 December 2025).

How to apply

To obtain the discount for open access publication in Science Advances, the affiliation discount must be applied at point of payment – note it is not applied automatically.

  1. Once the manuscript is accepted, the author is emailed a link to the author charge page.

  2. On the article charge page, click the blue ‘Apply discounts’ button.

  3. In the affiliation discount section, search for ‘University of London Saint George's’ and select it from the list.

  4. Click the orange ‘Apply discounts’ button and the discount is applied.

To comply with your funder’s open access mandate using the rights retention route:

For authors funded by cOAlition S organizations: on a trial basis AAAS will allow authors who submit articles to AAAS journals from 01 Jan 2021  to place a CC BY license on their accepted manuscripts. This trial is being continued until 31 December 2024.

For authors funded by UKRI: we understand that a similar route for open access of accepted manuscripts is possible to enable authors to comply with the UKRI Open Access policy which came into effect April 2022.

A CC-BY-ND licence may be permitted by exception, if prior permission obtained by author from the funder.

Please be sure to include the rights retention statement on your manuscript on submission, and deposit your final author accepted MS in a repository on publication (biomedical research articles that acknowledge MRC or BBSRC funding are required to be archived in Europe PubMed Central).  The AAAS License to Publish should reflect the funders policy requirements. 

More information

Contact Science Advances by email.

American Heart Association

American Heart Association journals are published by Wiley, or Wolters Kluwer.

Please refer to the entry below for Wiley for the following American Heart Association Gold (wholly open access) journals:

  • JAHA – Journal of the American Heart Association
  • Stroke: Vascular and Interventional Neurology (S:VIN)

Please refer to the entry below for Wolters Kluwer for the following American Heart Association hybrid (subscription) journals:

  • Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
  • Circulation
  • Circulation Research
  • Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology
  • Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging
  • Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions
  • Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes
  • Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine
  • Circulation: Heart Failure
  • Hypertension
  • Stroke
American Physiological Society - Read and Publish
What is the agreement?

St George's has renewed our publishing agreement with the American Physiological Society, which runs now from 1st January 2023 - 31st December 2024 (previous agreement from 1st January 2021 – 31st December 2022).

SGUL affiliated researchers who are the corresponding author on the paper will be notified that their work can be published under an open CC-BY license without paying article processing charges. They will also be eligible for a one-year APS membership.

Which journals are included?

The following APS publishing list (12 titles) are included:

(any journal listed is included in the deal, and you can use the “KBPlus Import Format” button to download the list as a spreadsheet)

  • American Journal of Physiology - Cell Physiology
  • American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism
  • American Journal of Physiology - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology
  • American Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology
  • American Journal of Physiology - Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology
  • American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology
  • American Journal of Physiology - Renal Physiology
  • Journal of Applied Physiology
  • Journal of Neurophysiology
  • Physiological Genomics
  • Physiology
  • Physiological Reviews
Which articles are eligible?

All article types accepted within the time of the agreement are eligible. There is no cap on this deal.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address, and identify their SGUL affiliation in the publisher’s system. Please be sure that where the publisher system requests your organisation and department, you confirm this as St George's, University of London. Once recognised, the corresponding author will be given a choice to opt-in to publish their article open access once their article is accepted.  

More information

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

BioMed Central (BMC) (updated August 2023)
BMC journals are included in the 2023-2025 agreement between Jisc and Springer Nature.

This means SGUL affiliated corresponding authors can receive a 15% discount on open access publishing charges in BioMed Central journals.

Please read the information in the entry for Springer Nature for further guidance on eligibility.

BMJ Case Reports
What is the agreement?

For authors submitting an article to BMJ Case Reports, St George’s has fellowship codes for both St George’s and St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The fellowship code will enable you to submit your article to the BMJ. 

Please note there is an extra charge for open access publishing; see What will it cost? on the BMJ Case Reports page . Please be sure you know where the funding will come from for the open access fee before you select to publish open access.

How to apply

Please email us for information about the fellowship codes.

More information

Please contact open access if you require further information.

BMJ Journals - Read and Publish
What is the agreement?

St George’s renewed our participation in the BMJ Publishing Group read and publish and read agreement for 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2024. 

This means that funded research articles* can be published open access under a CC-BY license at no further direct cost in many BMJ hybrid journals and fully open access journals (hybrid journals are subscription journals that also allow for individual articles to be made open access).

* Eligibility: SGUL affiliated researchers who are the corresponding author on original research papers which acknowledge grant funding from any of the following funders:

British Heart Foundation, Blood Cancer UK, Cancer Research UK, Innovate UK, Parkinsons UK, Versus Arthritis, Wellcome Trust, UKRI (Arts and Humanities Research Council; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; Economic and Social Research Council; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; Medical Research Council; Science and Technology Facilities Council; Natural Environment Research Council Research England). 

If funded by Wellcome and/or Gates Foundation please be sure to include the Rights Retention Statement when you submit your article to the journal.

Which journals are included?

The journals in this deal, including the BMJ and BMJ Open, can be found by visiting BMJ Open Access agreements for UK. Scroll down to the section 'Find out if you are entitled to institutional funding' select for St George's University of London, and then see the list under 'How you can publish with fees covered by your institution'.

Which journals are excluded?

Excluded titles:

  • The Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons
  • BMJ Case Reports (see separate entry on this page for BMJ Case reports)
  • Considerations in Medicine
  • Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin
  • Faculty Dental Journal

Note:

The 4 journals below are published by BMJ on behalf of other organisations. They are not included in the BMJ read and publish deal, however, the journals do not currently levy an article processing charges (fee for open access publication):

  • eGastroenterology
  • Family Medicine and Community Health
  • General Psychiatry (GPSYCH) 
  • World Journal of Pediatric Surgery

Please be aware that the Author licence only offers CC-BY-NC unless you are acknowledging funder which requires CC-BY.  Please be sure to check you inform the journal on submission of your funders if they require CC-BY (and include a CC-BY rights retention statement on submission if necessary) and select CC-BY for publication.

Which articles are eligible?

Original articles reporting on primary research as defined by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) article types (including systematic reviews); Review articles (UKRI funded articles only from 1st April 2022). The publisher has produced a breakdown of eligible article types.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers.

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address, and identify their SGUL affiliation in the publisher’s system. 

More information

Further information can be found via the BMJ Open Access AgreementDownload OA at BMJ author guide and watch the BMJ Journals tutorial (YouTube) showing the steps in submitting your article.

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Cambridge University Press (CUP) Journals - Read and Publish
What is the agreement?

From 1st January 2021 – 31st December 2024, St George’s is participating in the Cambridge University Press (CUP) read and publish deal.

SGUL affiliated researchers who are the corresponding author on original research papers can have their work published under an open CC-BY license without paying article processing charges. 

Which journals are included?

The journals included in this deal can be found on this spreadsheet or by using Cambridge University Press's open access waiver tool.

Which journals are excluded?

Advances in Applied Probability; Africa Bibliography; AJS Review; Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales; Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales: English Edition; Annual of the British School at Athens; Antichthon; Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling; Behavioral and Brain Sciences; Horizons; International Organization; IRAQ; Journal of Applied Probability; Journal of Asian Studies; Journal of Policy History; Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools; Journal of Southeast Asian Studies; New Surveys in the Classics; Papers of the British School at Rome; Philosophy; PMLA / Publications of the Modern Language Association of America; Religion and American Culture; Renaissance Quarterly; Review of Middle East Studies; Royal Historical Society Camden Fifth Series; Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements; TDR: The Drama Review; The Mathematical Gazette; Think; World Politics; Yearbook for Traditional Music.

Which article types are eligible?

Research, Review Articles and Rapid Communications (RRR), Plus Brief Report and Case Reports article types, which are often linked to research articles, accepted between 01 January 2021 – 31 December 2024 are eligible.

There is no cap on the number of articles that can be made open access during 2023. 

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers.

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address, and identify their SGUL affiliation in the publisher’s system. 

More information

Further information can be found via the CUP step-by-step guide to publishing open access in Cambridge journals available on this page.

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Cold Spring Harbor Journals - Read and Publish
What is the agreement?

St  George's has renewed our previous 2021 - 2022 read and publish agreement with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, from 01 January 2023 until 31 December 2024. This means SGUL affiliated researchers who are the corresponding author on original research papers can have their work published under an open CC-BY license without paying article processing charges.  There will be no cap on the number of articles that can be published this way for the duration of the deal.

Which journals are included?

The journals included in the agreement for read and publish are:

(any journal listed is included in the deal, and you can use the “KBPlus Import Format” button to download the list as a spreadsheet)

  • Genes & Development
  • Genome Research
  • Learning & Memory
  • Molecular Case Studies
  • RNA.
Which journals are excluded?

SGUL has read access only under the agreement to the following journals:

  • Life Science Alliance
  • CSH Protocols
  • CSH Perspectives in Biology
  • CSH Perspectives in Medicine.
Which article types are eligible?

Research/case reports.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers.

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address, and identify their SGUL affiliation in the publisher’s system. 

More information

Further information can be found via the “Information for Authors” link at each journal homepage.

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Company of Biologists - Read and Publish
What is the agreement?

St George’s is participating in the Company of Biologists Read and Publish agreement .  The agreement from January 1st 2022 - December 31st 2024 includes  publishing  under CC-BY licence in their pure OA titles as well as their subscription journals. There will be no cap on the number of articles that can be published this way for the duration of the deal.

Which journals are included?

The agreement covers publishing in Society’s three subscription journals and two fully OA journals:

(any journal listed is included in the deal, and you can use the “KBPlus Import Format” button to download the list as a spreadsheet)

  • Biology Open
  • Development
  • Disease Models & Mechanisms
  • Journal of Cell Science
  • The Journal of Experimental Biology.
Which articles are eligible?

Original research articles & review articles (not book reviews).

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers 

In order to be recognised as eligible, authors must be listed as corresponding authors, and ensure that their institutional affiliation and institutional e-mail address is correctly entered in the publisher’s submission system. 

More information

For further information, see the publisher's guide for authors page.

Contact open access before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Elsevier - Read and Publish
What is the agreement?

Under this agreement, SGUL retains access to our existing Elsevier subscriptions, and SGUL corresponding authors have the option to publish OA in all eligible Core Hybrid, Cell Press and The Lancet journals. Articles must have an acceptance date between 1st January 2022 and 31st December 2024.

There are two ways that SGUL corresponding authors can benefit from this deal:

1] Obtain a 15% reduction on all OA fees in these fully gold OA journals (during subscription years 2022 and 2023): Elsevier: Jisc Collections: Elsevier Read and Publish Agreement 2022-2024 (Fully Gold titles) (any journal listed is included in the discount part of the deal, and you can use the “KBPlus Import Format” button to download the list as a spreadsheet) .

Please ensure you know how you are going to pay the remainder of the open access charges before you submit to the journal.

2]  Publish open access under a Creative Commons licence in Elsevier's Core hybrid journals, Cell Press and The Lancet journals: Elsevier: Jisc Collections: Elsevier Read and Publish Agreement 2022-2024 (Publishing list) (any journal listed is included in the deal, and you can use the “KBPlus Import Format” button to download the list as a spreadsheet).

There are no caps on the number of articles that can be published OA under this deal for Core Hybrid, Cell Press and The Lancet Journals.

If the journal you submit to suggests that your article can be transferred to a different Elsevier journal, please contact us again before agreeing to the transfer, in case you will be liable for open access charges in the journal they suggest.

Which journals are included?

As well as information on the lists above, Elsevier have produced a journal look up tool which is on the web page here.

Which journals are excluded?

There are a number of non-eligible titles, listed on this spreadsheet, including the following titles:

  • Blood
  • Journal of the American College of Cardiology
  • JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging
  • JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions
  • JACC: Heart Failure
  • JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology
Which articles are eligible?

In core hybrid journals: Research and Review articles are covered, as are Case Reports / Data in Brief / Microarticle / Original Software Publication / Protocol / Replication Study / Short Communication / Short Survey / Video Article / Practice Guideline.

In Cell Press and in The Lancet journals: some exceptions apply.  Please check article type eligibility on this list.

Eligibility criteria

The author must be the submitting corresponding author affiliated with SGUL, and submit using their SGUL email address.

Articles must have an acceptance date between 1st January 2022 and 31st December 2024. 

How to apply

Once your article has been accepted for publication in a participating journal, you will receive an email containing a link to what Elsevier describe as the “post-acceptance author journey”. When you select your publishing options, your affiliation with SGUL will be validated by the Library, and you will be informed if the open access fee will be covered by the agreement.

If your funder requires a rights retention statement in your manuscript on submission, Elsevier have advised us that they do not intend to reject or reroute submitted manuscripts or divert manuscripts to alternative journals due to including a rights retention statement when the version of record is published OA via the agreement. Examples of funders requiring a rights retention statement are Wellcome, UKRI and Gates Foundation.

More information

If you are planning on submitting to an Elsevier journal and considering publishing open access, please get in touch with us before submission should you want to check that the journal is in the scheme, or about the discount for publication in wholly OA journals.

European Respiratory Society - Read and Publish (updated for 2024)
What is the agreement?

St George's is renewing our European Respiratory Society Read and Publish agreement up until the end of December 2024.

This means that for research articles accepted in the European Respiratory Journal  (other than editorials and ERS Documents/Task Force), or in ERJ Open Research and European Respiratory Review from 1st January 2022, where an SGUL researcher is the corresponding author, the article will be published under CC-BY licence at no further cost to SGUL. There will be no cap on the number of articles that can be published this way for the duration of the deal.

Which journals are included?

The agreement covers publishing in the Society’s flagship journal European Respiratory Journal, ERJ Open Research and European Respiratory Review.  

Which articles are eligible?

Any article type other than a European Respiratory Journal Editorial, an official ERS document or an article which ERS is prevented from publishing open access by another rights holder.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers

In order to be recognised as eligible, authors must be listed as corresponding authors.

The publisher asks us to make authors aware that to be recognized as Eligible Authors for open access, they should be prepared to take on the responsibilities of corresponding author, and ensure that their institutional affiliation and institutional e-mail address is correctly entered in the publisher’s submission system. 

More information

For further information, see the section on Open Access on the European Respiratory Journal Instructions for authors.

Contact open access before submission to the journal if you need further advice.

Hindawi
Hindawi Portfolio is eligible for OA publishing through the Wiley agreement.

Please refer to the entry on this page for Wiley. 

Microbiology Society (formerly Society of General Microbiology) - Read and Publish
What is the agreement?

St George's has renewed our participation in the Society’s Publish & Read deal for a further 2 year period, from 1st January 2023 until end December 2024. This means that where an SGUL researcher is the corresponding author, peer reviewed articles can be published under CC-BY licence at no extra charge to the author. There will be no cap on the number of articles that can be published this way for the duration of the deal.

Which journals are included?

The agreement covers publishing in all the Society’s titles:

  • International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
  • Journal of General Virology
  • Journal of Medical Microbiology
  • Microbiology
  • Microbial Genomics
  • Access Microbiology (note: this is an open access platform, further information here).
Which articles are eligible?

All peer reviewed articles.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers

As corresponding author of the article, you must identify yourself by using your SGUL institutional email address throughout the submission process. The publisher asks us to make authors aware that to be recognized as Eligible Authors for open access, they should be prepared to take on the responsibilities of corresponding author.

At acceptance, the journal team will check submissions to ensure they agree with the author’s eligibility claim. 

The Microbiology Society has produced an author guide, and an author's journey guide .

More information

Contact open access before submission to the journal if you need further advice.

The Microbiology Society can be contacted via email

Nature (updated August 2023)
Many Nature journals are included in the 2023-2025 agreement between Jisc and Springer Nature.

Some titles may be included in the part of the agreement for fully open access journals, and attract a 15% discount on the open access fee, or be in the part of the agreement that covers hybrid (subscription journals), where the whole of the open access fee will be covered.

Please read the information in the entry for Springer Nature for further guidance on eligibility.

Oxford University Press (OUP) Journals - Read and Publish (updated for 2024)
What is the agreement?

From 1st January 2024 – 31st December 2025, St George’s is participating in the Oxford University Press (OUP) read and publish agreement.

SGUL affiliated researchers who are the corresponding author on original research papers can have their work published under an open access CC-BY license without paying article processing charges.

Please be sure to select the licence as required by your funder. 

Which journals are included?

We are waiting on the publisher updating their Jisc agreement title list online. If you have a query please get in touch with us and we can check inclusion for you.

Which journals are excluded?

Please contact us in advance of submission if you are considering publication in a special issue. Articles in supplements (i.e. specifically designated issues supplementary to a journal’s usual publication, often sponsored by third parties), are not eligible.

  • Astronomy & Geophysics
  • Children & Schools
  • European Heart Journal Supplements
  • Health and Social Work
  • Itnow
  • Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies
  • JNCI Monographs
  • Journal of American History
  • Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
  • Journal Of Islamic Studies
  • Modern Judaism - A Journal of Jewish Ideas and Experience
  • Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics
  • Reports of Patent, Design and Trade Mark Cases
  • Shakespeare Quarterly
  • Significance
  • Social Work
  • Social Work Research
  • The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory
  • The Year’s Work in English Studies
  • Western Historical Quarterly
Which articles are eligible?

Original research articles, review articles, case reports and brief reports accepted and received into production between 01 January 2024 – 31 December 2025 are eligible. 

Please note: articles in supplements (i.e. specifically designated issues supplementary to a journal’s usual publication, often sponsored by third parties), are not eligible.

Please contact us before submission if you are considering publishing a research letter, as different terms and conditions may apply.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address, and identify their SGUL affiliation in the publisher’s system. 

Corresponding authors must provide their SGUL institutional affiliation as their first affiliation at submission. Eligible authors will then be routed on a bespoke workflow for open access publishing under this agreement.

More information

Information from OUP Journals is available here, including this step-by-step guide.

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Palgrave
Palgrave journals are included in the 2023-2025 agreement between Jisc and Springer Nature.

Titles may be included in the part of the agreement for fully open access journals, and be eligible for a 15% discount on the open access fee, or be in the part of the agreement that covers hybrid (subscription journals), where the whole of the open access fee will be covered.

Please read the information in the entry for Springer Nature for further guidance on eligibility.

PLOS publishing agreement (updated for 2024)

We have extended our current PLOS publishing agreement, renewing all of the titles for 2024, plus two new ones will be included: PLOS Complex Systems, and PLOS Mental Health. 

What is the agreement?

This agreement allows for open access publication in PLOS journals for articles submitted from 01 April 2021 . The number of articles which can be published under this agreement is uncapped.

Which journals are included?

SGUL's arrangements with PLOS covers all 14 journals:

  • PLOS Biology
  • PLOS Climate
  • PLOS Complex Systems
  • PLOS Computational Biology
  • PLOS Digital Health
  • PLOS Genetics 
  • PLOS Global Public Health
  • PLOS Medicine
  • PLOS Mental Health
  • PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
  • PLOS One
  • PLOS Pathogens
  • PLOS Sustainability and Transformation
  • PLOS Water
How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers.

In order to be recognised as eligible, SGUL authors must be the corresponding author, and ensure that their institutional affiliation and institutional e-mail address is correctly entered in the publisher’s submission system throughout the submission process.  This video shows the relevant steps in the publisher system, there are drop-down menus where you select from a pick list to confirm your institutional affiliation with St George's.

More information

Information about the scope of the journals to help guide you on which journal to submit to is   here.  Further general information can be found on the PLOS Publishing FAQs.

Contact open access before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Radiological Society of North America Transitional Read and Publish
What is the agreement?

St George’s is participating in Radiological Society of North America's Read and Publish Transitional Agreement 2023 - 2024. This means that for any articles accepted in the journals below after 1st January 2023, and where an SGUL researcher is the corresponding author, the article can be published under CC-BY licence at no further cost to SGUL. There will be no cap on the number of articles that can be published this way for the duration of the deal. 

Which journals are included?

The journals covered by this deal are:

(any journal listed is included in the deal, and you can use the “KBPlus Import Format” button to download the list as a spreadsheet)

  • Radiology
  • Radiology: Artificial Intelligence
  • Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging
  • Radiology: Imaging Cancer
Which articles are eligible?

Original Research, Technical Developments, Erratum, Data Resources, Review articles.

How to apply

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address, and identify their SGUL affiliation in the publisher’s system. Please be sure that where the publisher system requests your organisation, you confirm this as St George's, University of London.  

More information

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to this journal if you need further advice. 

Rockefeller University Press - Read and Publish (updated for 2024)
What is the agreement?

St George’s is renewing our Rockefeller University Press (RUP) and Jisc’s read-and-publish transitional agreement until the end of December 2025. This means that for any articles accepted in one of the journals below after 1st January 2020 and where an SGUL researcher is the corresponding author, the article will be published under CC-BY licence at no further cost to SGUL. There will be no cap on the number of articles that can be published this way for the duration of the deal. The fully open access journal Life Science Alliance which RUP co-publish with EMBO Press, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press is not part of this deal.

Which journals are included?

The agreement covers publishing in their three subscription journals: 

(any journal listed is included in the deal, and you can use the “KBPlus Import Format” button to download the list as a spreadsheet)

Which articles are eligible?

Original research articles & review articles (not book reviews):  Article, Brief Definitive Report, Communication, Hypothesis, Methods and Approaches, Report, Technical Advances and Resources, and Tools.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers.

In order to be recognised as eligible, SGUL authors must be the corresponding author, and ensure that their institutional affiliation and institutional e-mail address is correctly entered in the publisher’s submission system throughout the submission process. 

More information

For further information, see the publisher’s page which lists the other UK institutions participating in this agreement. 

Contact open access before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) - Read and Publish
What is the agreement?

St George's has renewed our agreement for another two years, from 1st January 2023 – 31st December 2024. SGUL affiliated researchers who are the corresponding author on original research articles can have their work published under an open CC-BY license without paying article processing charges. There is no cap on the number of  articles that can be published open access during this agreement.

Which journals are included?

The journals included in this deal are:

  • British Journal of General Practice
  • BJGP Open.
Which journals are excluded?
  • Publication in BJGP Life, which publishes comment and opinion, is excluded from the agreement.
  • InnovAiT is published by Sage on behalf of RCGP.  Please see Sage entry on this page. 
Which articles are eligible?

Research articles. 

How to apply?

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address, and identify their SGUL affiliation in the publisher’s system. 

More information

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Sage - Read and Publish
What is the agreement?

SGUL has renewed our Sage read and publish agreement to cover articles accepted for publication between 01 January 2023 and 31 December 2024. 

There are two ways that SGUL corresponding authors can benefit from this deal:

1] Obtain a 20% discount off the list price for open access publication in SAGE Journals’ wholly Gold OA journals (.xlsx file).

Jisc list of fully OA titles eligible for discount (any journal listed is included in the discount part of the deal, and you can use the “KBPlus Import Format” button to download the list as a spreadsheet).

Please ensure you know how you are going to pay the remainder of the open access charges before you submit to the journal.

Also, if a full fee has been paid, the publisher will not be able to refund or part refund an APC where the discount has not been requested.

2] Publish open access under a Creative Commons licence in SAGE Choice (hybrid) journals  at no extra charge.

Jisc list of hybrid titles eligible for open access publication (any journal listed is included in the deal, and you can use the “KBPlus Import Format” button to download the list as a spreadsheet).

Which journals are included?

The agreement covers publishing in their following journal packages:

Please be aware that some of these titles will be eligible for a full fee waiver, whereas others will only be eligible for a 20% discount (see above for details).

Terms general to both:

The authors will retain copyright to all authored open access articles. There is no cap on the number of  articles that can be published open access during this agreement. This discount cannot be combined with other discounts, but the highest discount available to the author will be applied to the APC due.

Which journals are excluded?
  • Titles that do not participate in Sage Choice are listed on this page  one of which is InnovAiT, the official journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Which articles are eligible?

Original Research Papers, Review Papers, Brief Communications, Short Reports, Case Reports are eligible.

Excluded article types are: Articles published as part of commercially sponsored supplements, errata, book reviews, editorials, published abstracts, call for papers, news items or similar.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers

The corresponding author should be an SGUL researcher, use their SGUL email when corresponding with the journal, and acknowledge SGUL as an affiliated institution.

Invitations to interact and register with the portal will be sent via automated emails once an article has been accepted following the normal peer review process. Requests via the publishers system will be routed to the Library for verification of your status as an SGUL researcher.

You may be offered a choice of publication under CC-BY or CC-BY-NC licence. If your research article is reporting on research arising from a grant the funder of which requires open access publication, please be sure to: acknowledge the funder(s) and grant(s) in your paper and in the publisher system, and select the CC-BY licence where required.

More information

See SAGE Open Access

If you are planning on submitting to a SAGE journal and considering publishing open access, please get in touch with us before submission if you have any questions.

Society for Neuroscience Read and Publish (updated for 2024)
What is the agreement?

St George's is renewing our Society for Neuroscience Read and Publish agreement until the end of December 2024. This means that SGUL affiliated researchers who are the corresponding author will have the option to publish their work with an open CC-BY license without incurring charges (as both publication fees and open access fees are covered under the deal).

Which journals are included?

The agreement covers the Journal of Neuroscience only.

Which articles are eligible?

Research/review articles.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address, and identify their SGUL affiliation in the publisher’s system. Please be sure that where the publisher system requests your organisation, you confirm this as St George's, University of London.  The publisher will be processing eligible articles as Open Choice, without any direct cost to the authors. Please refer to the section How does it work for authors? on this page

More information

General information for authors  outlines submission information for the Journal of Neuroscience . Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to this journal if you need further advice. 

Springer Open (fully OA journals) (updated August 2023)

Springer Open journals are included in the 2023-2025 agreement between Jisc and Springer Nature.

This means SGUL affiliated corresponding authors can receive a 15% discount on open access publishing charges.

Please read the information in the entry for Springer Nature for further guidance on eligibility.

Springer Nature Agreement (updated July 2023)

SGUL has signed up to the 2023-2025 agreement between Jisc and Springer Nature.

This means that eligible St George’s, University of London corresponding authors have the option to publish under a CC-BY licence with either a 15% discount or at no direct cost to the author in many BioMed Central, Palgrave, Nature and Springer titles.

It is not necessary to pay extra for colour charges, as eligible corresponding authors can request to have these waived. The usual £50 administration fee applied to invoices for publication in fully open access titles such as BMC will also be waived.

What is the agreement?

For the hybrid (subscription) titles in this agreement, the whole of the open access fee for eligible articles will be covered.

For the fully open access titles covered by this agreement, a 15% discount is possible for eligible articles editorially accepted for publication from 7th August 2023.

If you are considering submitting to publish open access in a fully open access journal, it is important that you have identified how you will pay the open access fees before submission. Guidance on possible funding can be found in the section 'Funds available' towards the end of this page.

Which journals are included?

Details of the journals can be found in three spreadsheets on the publisher website:

Open access agreement for UK | Open research | Springer Nature

Springer portfolio read and publish journals:

  • Includes titles such as: CardioVascular and Interventional Radiology; Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity; International Urogynecology Journal.
  • There will be unlimited open access article publishing in these titles.

Nature portfolio read and publish journals:

  • Includes Nature, Nature Medicine; Nature Genetics; Nature Immunology.
  • Excludes the Nature Reviews… titles, e.g. Nature Reviews Cardiology.
  • There is a national cap on the articles that can be published open access under the read and publish agreement in the Nature portfolio titles. Publishing is nationally on a first come first served basis.
  • Authors can include a rights retention statement to enable green open access for UKRI compliance (see section on Plan S requirements) as necessary.

Fully open access journals (15% discount):

  • Includes the BMC journals, and the Palgrave, Springer and Nature open access titles covered by this agreement (Nature Communications and Scientific Reports are in the list of fully OA journals).
Which articles are eligible?

Springer portfolio read and publish journals:

  • Original Paper, Review Paper, Brief Communication, Continuing Education.

Nature portfolio journals (in the read and publish and fully OA lists): 

  • Original Paper, usually presenting new results.

Fully open access journals except Nature Portfolio journals (15% discount):

  • Original Paper, Review Paper, Brief Communication, Continuing Education

Please contact us in advance of submission with any queries.

How to apply:

If you can say yes to all of these these statements, you are eligible:

  1. My article has been accepted by a journal included in the Springer Nature agreement.

  2. I am the corresponding author.

  3. I am affiliated with an eligible UK institution/university. See Who can apply for open access fee waivers

  4. My article matches one of the types outlined above.

On the publisher side, authors submitting to fully open access journals will be asked to confirm at submission that they understand the journal uses an open access model, and so if their article is accepted they must pay an article processing charge (the OA fee minus the discount). See When do I need to confirm that I wish to publish open access via an APC? Springer Nature journal pricing FAQs.

So please be sure you have identified how you will pay the remainder of the OA fee before submission. When generating the invoice, this should include the discount.  The usual £50 administration fee applied to invoices for publication in fully open access titles such as BMC should be waived by the publisher.

You will need to identify yourself as an eligible author in at least one of the following ways, and the publisher uses the following order of precedence to determine eligibility:

  1. By inputting your St George's, University of London affiliation when prompted
  2. By using your St George's, University of London institutional email address
  3. By completing the publisher form within St George's, University of London network

Springer and St George’s Library will verify your eligibility for open access publishing for the hybrid (subscription) titles in this agreement .

More information

Further information can be found on the Springer Nature UK agreement FAQs.

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Taylor & Francis - Read and Publish (updated for 2024)
What is the agreement?

St George’s is participating in the Jisc Taylor and Francis open access agreement, which covers open access publishing of original research papers accepted between 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2025 (see journals covered below).

This means that SGUL affiliated researchers who are the corresponding author can choose to publish their original research papers under an open access CC-BY license without paying article processing charges. 

As well as open access publishing in subscription journals (which Taylor and Francis refer to as 'Open Select' titles), the new agreement also now includes all fully open access journals, F1000Research  and Routledge Open Research.

There will be a cap at a national level on articles that can be published open access under this deal, with a further allowance of a limited gratis buffer if this is reached. Publishing is on a first come first served basis.

Which journals are included?

Use Open access cost finder - Author Services (taylorandfrancis.com) as follows:

  • Deselect Dove Press titles as these are not covered for publishing under this agreement.
  • In the results list, find your journal.
  • As long as your article is one of the types covered by the agreement (see below Which articles are eligible), you do not need to click on the 'Calculate your article publishing charge' button.
  • If it is not one of the article types below, you may need to fund any open access publishing charge so please contact us before submission so we can advise further.

Authors whose funders require a rights retention statement on their submitted manuscript should include the statement.

Which journals are excluded?

Dove Press titles are excluded.

Which articles are eligible?

Research articles only are eligible, except for F1000Research and Routledge Open Research, where the following are eligible: including but not limited to: Research Articles, Method Articles, Antibody Validation Articles, Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Clinical Practice Articles, Case Reports, Opinion Articles.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers.

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address, and identify their SGUL affiliation in the publisher’s system.  

Once you receive your author publishing agreement and confirmed your personal details, you will be able to select to publish open access through SGUL's open access agreement.

Once you have signed the author publishing agreement, the Library will be notified of your request. If your request is approved you will then get an email where you can select a Creative Commons license. Please be sure to select the Creative Commons licence as required by your funder. 

More information

Further information here and on this graphical overview for the Open Select titles:  'Open your research in 5 steps' (pdf)

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Wiley - Read and Publish (updated for 2024)
What is the agreement?

St George’s is participating in John Wiley’s read-and-publish (R&P) agreement for 2024-2025.

Under this deal, SGUL affiliated researchers who are the 'responsible corresponding author' for original research papers will be able to choose to publish open access under a Creative Commons licence (e.g. CC-BY) license without paying article processing charges. 

Wiley define the responsible corresponding author as: "the author who manages the manuscript and correspondence during the publication process - from submission through publication. This author has the authority to act on behalf of all the co-authors and will also be the contact for inquiries after publication".

Once responsible corresponding author is assigned, Wiley may not reassign this role to another co-author.

If funded by Wellcome and/or Gates Foundation please be sure to include the Rights Retention Statement when you submit your article to the journal. 

Wiley advise that eligible authors who declare original research funding during the licence signing process from a Funder with a CC-BY mandate will only be provided with a CC-BY licence to ensure compliance with Funder mandates. 

Once your article is published, you cannot change your mind about the publication licence you have decided on.

Which journals are included?

The agreement covers publishing in Wiley and Hindawi titles, please see the lists in the publisher spreadsheets for Wiley hybrid  (xlsx) and Wiley Gold Titles.

Are any journals excluded?

The journals of a small number of Society publishers are excluded. Excluded journals will not appear on the lists above.

Which articles are eligible?

Primary research and review articles: including (but not limited to) articles classified by Wiley as Case Study, Commentary, Data Article, Education, Lecture, Method and Protocol, Perspective, Practice and Policy, Rapid Publication, Research Article, Review Article, Short Communication, and Technical Note.

How to apply?

See Who can apply for open access publication under this agreement.

You will need to identify yourself as being eligible to the publisher, so please use your SGUL institutional email address, which will help with this.

The institution will verify the eligibility of the responsible corresponding author in the course of the publisher’s publishing workflow.

More information

For further information, see the publisher’s page on the open access agreement, and simple steps at how to publish in open access in a hybrid journal  (publishing OA in their subscription journals) and how to publish in a fully open access journal. To find out which other institutions are participating in this agreement by looking on the ‘Check your eligibility’ section on this Wiley webpage.

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Wolters Kluwer
What is the agreement?

From 1st January 2022 - 31st December 2024, St George's is participating in the Wolters Kluwer read and publish pilot agreement. 

SGUL affiliated researchers who are the corresponding author on original research papers can have their work published under an open CC-BY license without paying article processing charges, page or colour charges in selected hybrid (subscription) journals. Fully open access journals are excluded from the agreement. 

Please be sure to select the licence as required by your funder. 

There will be an annual cap on the publishing possible under this deal, based on the publications across the consortium members. Should the article cap be exceeded, this information will be updated with the arrangements that will apply.

Which journals are included?

There is a Jisc list of journals included in this deal (any journal listed is included in the deal, and you can use the “KBPlus Import Format” button to download the list as a spreadsheet), as well as a publisher list. The deal covers publication of original research in the following American Heart Association journals: 

  • Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology

  • Circulation

  • Circulation Research

  • Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology

  • Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging

  • Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions

  • Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes

  • Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine

  • Circulation: Heart Failure

  • Hypertension

  • Stroke.

(for JAHA – Journal of the American Heart Association, are Gold (wholly open access) journals published by Wiley, please see the Wiley information above).

Which journals are excluded?
  • Journal of the American College of Surgeons

  • JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics

  • JCO Global Oncology

  • Journal of Clinical Oncology

  • JCO Oncology Practice

  • JCO Precision Oncology.

Which articles are eligible?

Peer-reviewed research articles, including reviews and conference papers, accepted for publication.

How to apply

See Who can apply for open access fee waivers

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address, and identify their SGUL affiliation in the publisher’s system. On acceptance, the corresponding author will be asked to place an open access order in the publisher’s payment portal, where they will be able to request the open access publication fee be funded under this agreement, and where approved a $0.00 will be applied.  This video shows the process.

More information

Please contact the Library via our open access email address before submission to these journals if you need further advice.

Information from the publisher on the Wolters Kluwer agreement is here, and there are some general OA FAQs.

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Who can apply?

The affiliation of the corresponding author on the paper determines eligibility for open access publication. Corresponding authors need to have an affiliation with St George's, University of London as explained below.

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St George’s, University of London affiliation

St George’s researchers eligible for publishing under SGUL's open access arrangements are:

  • St George’s, University of London staff

  • St George’s, University of London students

  • St George's, University of London Emeritus Professors 

  • St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust staff with Honorary status with the university.

University of Nicosia staff and students are not eligible. Enquiries about publishing open access should be made to University of Nicosia library.

What does the corresponding author need to do?

Corresponding authors should use their St George’s University of London (SGUL) email address in the publisher system; this will help identify them to the publisher as being at an institution eligible for a open access publication.

Authors are expected to include their SGUL affiliation on any articles for which open access publishing requests are approved. For further guidance, please see SGUL's Open Access Publications policy (section 2.10).

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Open Research Publishing Platforms

Made available by funders to allow fast, open publishing of results, and open peer reivew.

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AMRC Open Research - publishing platform for AMRC funded researchers

AMRC Open Research, the open access publishing platform of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) has been rebranded as Health Open Research.

Please see the new entry for Health Open Research below.

Gates Open Research - publishing platform for Gates funded researchers
What is the arrangement?

The funder-based open publishing platform Gates Open Research publishes scholarly articles reporting any basic scientific, translational, applied and clinical research (including quantitative and qualitative studies) that has been funded (or co-funded) by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

It offers fast open access publication under the CC-BY licence, open peer review, and deposit and indexing in PubMed and other major bibliographic databases.

How to apply

St George’s researchers funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation can publish on Gates Open Research without direct cost. Each publication must have at least one author who has been, or still is, a recipient of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant.

Find out how the publishing process works here.

More information

Contact open access if you need further guidance.

Health Open Research - publishing platform for researchers working in health, medical and social care research
What is the arrangement?

Health Open Research (formerly the publishing platform AMRC Open Research), welcomes submissions from all academics, scholars and experts working in health, medical or social care research. "The only requirement is that authors must be able to demonstrate an affiliation with a recognized research or professional organization. This is to ensure articles represent scholarly work that is suitable for peer review."  (Who is eligible to publish in Health Open Research?, Health Open Research FAQs page). Work published also benefits from open peer review. 

How to apply

Information on submitting articles is found under How to Publish

More information

Further information can be found on the Aims and Scope page and the Health Open Research FAQs page. Contact open access before submission if you need further advice.

NIHR Open Research – publishing platform for NIHR funded researchers
What is the arrangement?

The funder-based open publishing platform NIHR Open Research will allow for fast publication and open peer review for NIHR-funded researchers, as well as offering editorial guidance on making all source data openly available.

The platform publishes a range of article types (including research articles, case reports and systematic reviews), and authors will benefit from the much lower open access publication fees compared to many more longer established journals.

Each publication must have at least one author who has been or still is an NIHR grant recipient.

How to apply

Please read the guidance on publishing policies for NIHR Open Research.

More information

Contact open access if you need further guidance.

Open Research Europe - publishing platform for Horizon funded researchers
What is the arrangement?

The funder-based open publishing platform Open Research Europe allows for fast publication and open peer review for research conducted by Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe beneficiaries.

The platform publishes a range of article types (including research articles, study protocols, case reports and systematic reviews). All researchers funded by a Horizon 2020 and/or Horizon Europe grant can publish original research related to their project at no cost to them.

How to apply

Please read the guidance at submit your research  and there is more detailed information  on publishing policies (pdf) for all subject areas on Open Research Europe.

More information

Contact open access if you need further guidance.

Wellcome Open Research - publishing platform for Wellcome funded researchers
What is the arrangement?

The funder-based open publishing platform Wellcome Open Research publishes scholarly articles reporting any basic scientific, translational and clinical research that has been funded (or co-funded) by Wellcome.

It offers fast open access publication under the CC-BY licence, open peer review, and deposit and indexing in PubMed and other major bibliographic databases.

How to apply

Researchers funded by the Wellcome Trust can publish at no direct on Wellcome Open Research (article processing charges will be covered directly by Wellcome.) Each publication must have at least one author who has been, or still is, a recipient of a Wellcome grant.

There is guidance on  how the publishing process works.

More information

Contact open access if you need further guidance.

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Green open access

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Green open access
Many subscription journals permit you to make your final accepted manuscript available via a repository, at no charge, usually following an embargo period from the date of publication. If you are acknowledging a specific funder, check first that the journal’s embargo period doesn’t exceed the maximum your funder allows, and whether the funder asks you to include a rights retention statement.
Green open access: with rights retention statement
Some funders require that you include a Rights Retention Statement in the submitted manuscript and in any cover letter or note accompanying the submission. This notifies the publisher that any author accepted MS can be made available under CC-BY licence on publication, without further embargo. For instance, cOAlitionS funders have made the following guidance  and Submission cover letter template available.
Depositing into a repository

St George’s repository is SORA. All St George’s researchers have a CRIS profile and should deposit their papers into SORA using the CRIS. There are other external subject repositories, for example EPMC for medical papers. User guidance for depositing in EPMC is available here.

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Funds available

You may be able to meet the open access requirement without paying an upfront open access fee under one of the read and publish deals, or by using a rights retention statement and making your accepted MS available immediately when submitting to a subscription journal.

If not, please ensure you know how you are going to pay any open access charges before you submit to publish open access.

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If your research article acknowledges research grants:
St George’s has some funds from UKRI (formerly RCUK) and British Heart Foundation to help pay open access fees for original research articles acknowledging their grants. Use the SHERPA-FACT service to check if your chosen journal will meet UKRI and BHF open access requirements). For more detail see our UKRI FAQs and the BHF Open Access policy.

For Wellcome funded researchers, please see Wellcome guidance.  This Journal Checker Tool is available for those who are funded by the funders implementing Plan S (which includes Wellcome and  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).

Other grants may have costs for publication charges incorporated. For other funders, your research funding officer in our Joint Research and Enterprise Services team should be able to advise you.

See the open access fund application form and guidance below for how to apply for funds.

If your research article does not acknowledge any research grants:
There is a limited institutional open access fund. Please see the open access fund application form and guidance below for how to apply for funds.
Application form for funded and unfunded researchers:
Applications must be submitted before a manuscript is submitted to a publisher.

Please complete the St George’s Open Access Fund application form (Word, St George's, University of London login required)

Please send a copy of the completed form to openaccess or let us know if you have any queries.

While it may be possible to authorise payment of an open access publication charge, if there is a 'no fee' way of making your paper open access (for instance via the read and publish deals or green route), this may be suggested rather than a paid route. 

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Contacts

For all enquiries about open access, email open access.

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