Open Access Publishing Agreements: Introduction

IReL consortium of Irish academic libraries, on behalf of UCD and other higher education instituiotns, has negotiated a number of Transformative Open Access Publishing agreements with key scholarly publishers. Transformative agreements shift the payments away from subscription-based reading towards open access publishing. They ensure that scholarly research outputs are freely available online to all, with no, or limited, licence restrictions.

These agreements allow UCD corresponding authors to publish an agreed number of Open Access articles in the publishers' academic journals without paying Article Processing Charges (APCs). 

UCD-IReL negotiated agreements can be availed of by all corresponding authors affiliated with UCD at the time the paper is accepted for publication. The corresponding author is the person responsible for manuscript submission and all correspondence/communication during the publication process.

Please ensure you include your UCD address and UCD email address in the corresponding author details at the time of submission.

Please be aware that the length of peer reviewing processes with individual publishers may therefore impact an author’s ability to utilise these OA agreements.  Please contact the relevant publisher for further information. 

A full list of all the journals included in the UCD-IReL negotiated agreements can be found here.

For any questions regarding the UCD-IReL agreements listed in this guide, please contact oapublishing@ucd.ie.

For general information about open access, please contact Jenny Collery, Scholarly Communications Librarian at UCD Library, at jenny.collery@ucd.ie. Alternatively, check out our Open Access guide.

In 2022, the National Open Research Forum (NORF) launched the National Action Plan for Open Research, aiming for 100% Open Access (OA) by 2030, with IReL recognised as a key contributor. Reflecting evolving international policy, including the 17th Berlin Open Access Conference Statement, the IReL Advisory Committee has revised its principles based on global developments, stakeholder feedback, and the experience of the IReL Negotiation Group. These updated principles will guide negotiations from 2025 and ensure strategic use of IReL’s limited funds:

Source: IReL

1. Cost reduction and control
IReL aims for fair, sustainable, and affordable pricing that ensures universal access and value for money.

2. Uncapped open access
The goal is to secure agreements providing 100% OA for member outputs without author-facing charges, and to move away from per-article models. Hybrid OA is not viewed as a long-term solution.

3. Transparency
All OA agreements are made publicly available, and non-disclosure clauses will not be accepted. Publishers are expected to ensure transparent pricing and metadata that support national OA monitoring.

4. Commitment to OA transition
Publishers must present concrete, data-driven plans for full OA transition by an agreed date.

5. Equity
Publishers should remove barriers for low- and middle-income countries and adopt equitable global pricing.

6. Protecting researchers’ rights
IReL wants publishers to adopt non-exclusive licenses for OA articles and to cease trying to assert control over AAMs via embargo policies. Researchers must retain full rights over their work, including the use of AI, without restrictive policies or undue liability.

Full IReL Principles for Negotiations document here.