Transformative/Institutional Agreements
Transformative agreements, also referred to as transitional or “read and publish” agreements, are contracts negotiated between institutions and publishers. They represent a further shift away from a subscription-only model to one which covers both subscription payments (the “read” element of the agreement) and article processing charges (the “publish” element) and have been initiated as part Plan S. These agreements effectively mean that a corresponding author can publish on a gold open access basis at no cost (the Article Processing Charge is waived).
Versus Arthritis is not currently a Plan S funder however Centre work may still be covered by these agreements. Before requesting Open Access (OA) costs from the Charity, please read your Institution’s page on transformative agreements (below) to see which publishers are involved and to find out the terms and conditions of each agreement (including eligible journals). Keep an eye on these pages for updates on existing agreements and details of any new agreements the University signs up to. Please contact your University OA team if you are in doubt.
Request Open Access costs
Currently Welcome Trust and UKRI are Plan S funders and if you are funded by either of these funders you will need to be compliant with their policies which you can check using their journal checker.
Please Note: From 1st January 2021, Plan S funders won’t fund Article Processing Charges (APC) for Hybrid OA journals unless the publishers have signed up to a transformative agreement/transformative journal to change their business model to full open access and Plan S funders will cease funding APCs for hybrid altogether form 2024.