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Open Access

[New!] Transformative Agreements 2025

TA 2025

Article Processing Charges (APC)

Article Processing Charges (APCs) are fees charged by publishers to make articles in scholarly journals open access, specifically to cover the costs of publication and journal administration. However, many scholarly journals, particularly those supported by universities, publish open access with no costs at all to researchers.

 

Reference

  • Bradley, F., & Reilly, S. (2024). IFLA Open Access Vocabularies. https://repository.ifla.org/handle/20.500.14598/3272

 

Discounts & Waivers for HKU Authors

OA Publishing for HKU Authors

The Libraries has made agreements with the several publishers below, which enables HKU authors in some cases to publish in Open Access (OA) journals for free, and in other cases at a discount.

 

The table below presents a summary of the publishers that offer APC discount to the HKU authors.

Publishers

(In alphabetical order; Click on the name for more details)

APC Discount to HKU authors
ACS (American Chemical Society) new!

APC Free

(Coming soon; Limited quota)

Bentham Science Publishers 50% off (Expired 2023)
BioMed Central

15% off

(until 31 December 2025)

Bioscientifica new!

APC Free

(until 31 December 2025)

Cambridge University Press

APC Free

(until 31 December 2026)

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

APC Free

(until 31 December 2025)

Company of Biologists

APC Free

(until 31 December 2025)

De Gruyter - Selected journals only new!

APC Free

(until 31 December 2025)

Elsevier - Selected hybrid journals new!

APC Free

(until 31 December 2027; Limited quota)

IOP Publishing

APC Free

(until 31 December 2025)

Karger

APC Free

(until 31 December 2026)

Microbiology Society

APC Free

(until 31 December 2025)

Oxford University Press - Selected hybrid journals new!

APC Free

(until 31 December 2027)

Policy Press 20% off
Portland Press

APC Free

(until 31 December 2025)

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)

Discounted price at $4,975 for immediate open access (Regular fee: $5,475)
Rockefeller University Press (RUP) new!

APC Free

(until 31 December 2026)

The Royal Society new!

APC Free

(until 31 December 2027)

SCOAP3

APC Free

(until 31 December 2027)

SPIE new!

APC Free

(until 31 December 2025)

Springer Nature - Springer Hybrid Journals

APC Free

(until 31 December 2026; Limited quota)

SpringerOpen 15% off
Wiley

APC Free

(until 31 December 2025; Limited quota)

 

 

APC Free

 

SCOAP3     

 

HKU Libraries is one of the member libraries of JULAC (Joint University Librarians Advisory Committee), which is a partner of SCOAP3 - Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics. Based on the central support of OA publishing in the participating journals, all authors worldwide can publish their works in Open Access without any financial or administrative barriers.

 

Discounts

 

Bentham Science Publishers     

HKU is a member of Bentham OPEN, which allows a 50% discount for HKU corresponding authors, and any HKU co-author. To receive this 50% discount, authors must include this code in cover letters, when submitting manuscripts: BOMI-HKU/01.

 

 

BioMed Central     

HKU has a Supporter Membership with BioMed Central. If the affiliation of the submitting author (author who uses the BMC online submission system) is HKU, then there will be a 15% discount. Therefore if you are one of the co-authors on a paper, please check with your other co-authors to determine which of their affiliations if any, have Supporter or Prepaid Memberships with BMC. Then the co-author of the affiliation with the most BMC discount could submit the article through BMC's online submission system. BMC writes,

When submitting a manuscript, either via a journal home page or via our online submission system, you will be identified as belonging to a member institution and automatically granted an article processing charge waiver if you are within your institution's firewall. If you are at home or at an external terminal when submitting your paper, you can still claim a waiver by starting your affiliation to your institution.

 

Policy Press     

As a subscriber of Policy Press, HKU authors can enjoy a 20% APC discount on all Policy Press journals. Please quote the customer number (CU-0128046) when making enquiries about open access with Policy Press.

 

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)     

Because HKU Libraries have a paid subscription to this journal, the publishers will allow a discount on article processing charges (APC). After the discount, the APC is $4,975 for Immediate Open Access. However, there is no discount for Delayed Open Access. 

Please make sure the corresponding author lists “University of Hong Kong” as the affiliation. Then, the system of PNAS can match it to HKU subscriber record and add the discount. The corresponding author should receive an estimate of publication charges. You are also encouraged to check for the discount so that PNAS can make any corrections if needed.

 

SpringerOpen     

Because of the HKU Supporter Membership of BioMed Central (above), HKU authors (submitting author) may also claim a 15% discount in SpringerOpen journals. Submission process is the same as in BMC above.

 

 

Transformative Agreement

Transformative Agreement (TA)

A Transformative Agreement (TA), sometimes used interchangeably with Read & Publish agreement (R&P), is an agreement with a publisher that takes the library’s existing expenditure on subscriptions and repurposes it to cover both reading and publishing in that publisher’s journals. If an academic publishes in a journal that is included in one of the R&P agreements, they may be able to publish direct to open access with no transactional article processing charges.

The Libraries has signed transformative agreements with the various publishers, providing HKU authors with full Article Processing Charge waivers for publishing articles in eligible open access and hybrid journals. Further details of the agreement terms are listed in the below section.

 

 

Reference

  • Bradley, F., & Reilly, S. (2024). IFLA Open Access Vocabularies. https://repository.ifla.org/handle/123456789/3272

 

Transformative Agreement - Terms and Application Procedures

acs logo
 

ACS - Read and Publish Agreement New!

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Author who is a current staff member or a student at University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 15 January 2025 - 31 December 2028
Type of publication Articles
Journal coverage

ACS journals

The full list can be find at: https://pubs.acs.org/page/4authors/journal-list.html

Quota limit Limited free APC credits. First come first served.

More details on the ACS' Read and Publish agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

  • During submission via the ACS Publishing Center, as a corresponding author, select HKU (The University of Hong Kong) from a drop-down box and use your affiliated university email address (@hku.hk or @connect.hku.hk).

  • Use HKU in the body of the manuscript as the corresponding author’s affiliation.

  • Complete the Journal Publishing Agreement to publish open access and retain copyright. Click on the “Order Open Access” link in the JPA Tool to submit the open access funding request.

  • Choose the "Yes, I wish to publish open access as per the agreement" option.

  • Click "Order Open Access".

  • At the RightsLink system (personal account required), select the "Seek Funding from the University of Hong Kong" option, and complete the checkout process, even for $0, to submit your funding request for approval.

    Note: Once the quota is used up, the "Seek Funding from the University of Hong Kong" option will not be available.

  • The Libraries will be alerted of your request. If the funding request is approved, your work will be published as ACS open access at no additional cost to you.

     

For more details, check: https://acsopenscience.org/institutions/read-and-publish/

 


 

Bioscientifica - Read and Publish Agreement New!

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Author who is a current staff member or a student at University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025
Type of publication

Articles

Journal coverage
  • EFFORT Open Reviews
  • Endocrine Connections
  • Endocrine Oncology
  • Endocrine Related Cancer
  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Case Reports
  • European Thyroid Journal
  • Journal of Endocrinology
  • Journal of Molecular Endocrinology
  • Microbiota and Host
  • Redox Experimental Medicine
  • Reproduction
  • Reproduction and Fertility
  • Vascular Biology
Quota limit Unlimited free APC credits.

More details on the Bioscientifica's Read and Publish agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

  • Use the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as your affiliation (or one of your affliations) and provide a correspondence address at the HKU (@connect.hku.hk or @hku.hk).
  • Select Open Access publication in the online manuscript submission form.
  • Eligibility of the corresponding authors will be identified prior to publication on the basis of HKU's Institutional email domain, as listed in the file submitted for peer review.
  • Sign the CC-BY Creative Commons license.

 

For more details, check: https://www.bioscientifica.com/publishing/policies/open-access-policy/

 

Cambridge University Press - Read and Publish Agreement

Item Description
Eligibility

The corresponding author of the submitted article is affiliated with HKU at the point of acceptance, including staff and students. The manuscripts have to be accepted within the agreement period.

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2022 - 31 December 2026
Type of publication Only applies to 5 types of article - “research article”, “review article”, “Rapid communications”, “brief report”, and “case report”. Detailed descriptions can be referred to here.
Journal coverage Over 370+ OA and hybrid journals are covered in the Read & Publish agreement. Discover a list of eligible CUP journal titles via this link.
Quota limit No quota limit for individual author as long as your articles are accepted within the agreement period.

More details on the CUP Read and Publish Agreement with JULAC, Hong Kong can be found here.

 

Procedures

Quick guide of application procedures

Source: The Cambridge University Press (https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/open-access-policies/read-and-publish-agreements

Step 1

Manuscript Submission and Peer Review

Go to the journal homepage page on Cambridge Core and click on “Submit your article”. Then, complete a submission form on the journal’s Online Peer Review System (OPRS). After submission, your manuscript will go through the editorial and peer review process. 

Note: Please use your HKU affiliation, address, and email for manuscript submission in order to obtain the APC waiver.

 

Step 2

Manuscript Acceptance and Publication Decision

Once your manuscript has been accepted, follow the instructions in the acceptance email to complete an Author Publishing Agreement. If publishing in a hybrid journal, ensure you select 'Gold Open Access'.

On the agreement form, select your choice of Creative Commons (CC) license for your article to be published.

 

Step 3

APC Transaction Process

An email will be sent to you in 48 hours from Rightslink®, the third party system used by CUP to transact APCs. Follow the instructions on the email to register a Rightslink account if you do not have one. Login to the Rightslink system, choose “Seek funding from the University of Hong Kong” to apply for the full APC waiver and submit your request for approval*.

Note: Quota is unlimited. Once your eligibility has been verified by the system, you will be able to obtain the approval to proceed.

 

Step 4

Publication in Open Access

You will be notified once your funding request has been approved. Your work will undergo the publication process and be available online in open access.


You can also refer to the author guides by the Cambridge University Press here for more information on the workflow of open access publishing.

 

Logo of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

 

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press - Transformative Agreement

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding authors affiliated with HKU at the point of acceptance are eligible for full waiver of APC for accpeted articles published in eligible journals

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2023 - 31 December 2025
Type of publication Fully peer-reviewed research, review, and case-study articles
Journal coverage

Five journals: Genes & Development, Genome Research, RNA, Learning & Memory, CSH Molecular Case Studies

Details can be found on this page.

Quota limit Unlimited within the agreement period

More details on the can be found here.

 

Procedures

There is no change in submission procedures.

Please refer to the “Information for Authors” link at the journal homepage to which you wish to submit your article. After your article is accepted for publication, you will then be informed of your Open Access publishing options.

 

 

company of biologists logo

The Company of Biologists - Read and Publish Agreement

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Authors who are affiliated with the University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2024 - 31 December 2025
Type of publication

Original research paper relating to original research

(I.e., This does not include review papers, commentaries, correspondence, corrections, additions, posters or any other content or material)

Journal coverage

Five journals:

Quota limit Unlimited

More details on The Company of Biologists' Read & Publish Open Access agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

1.

During article submission, make sure you enter the University of Hong Kong as the affiliation of the corresponding author, which is used to determine eligibility for waived article processing charges.
When providing your contact details, include your institutional email address, as well as the full name and address of your institution, including country.

2.
If you are submitting an article to Development, Journal of Cell Science or Journal of Experimental Biology, in the Open Access section, check the [Gold Open Access/CC-BY] and [Read & Publish fee waiver] boxes.

Note: Only CC-BY is available for the open access license.

3.

When your article is accepted, the publisher will send you a link to the RightsLink system and a fee-waiver will be applied.

You will receive a confirmation email as soon as your eligibility is confirmed.

 

For more details, check: https://www.biologists.com/library-hub/read-publish/guide-for-authors/

 

De Gruyter logo
 

De Gruyter - Open Access Agreement

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Author who is a current staff member or a student at University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025
Type of publication
  • Research article – Standard articles, usually presenting new results; articles published under this article type may also be referred to as original research, original articles, original papers or research papers
  • Review article – An article that interprets previously published results
  • Rapid Communication – Short article submitted for rapid publication that exhibits the same structure as a standard article
  • Case Report – Articles in medical journals

Journal coverage
Quota limit Unlimited free APC credits.

More details on the De Gruyter's Open Access agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

  • Use the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as your affiliation (or one of your affiliations) and provide a correspondence address at the HKU (@connect.hku.hk or @hku.hk).



     
  • If your article is accepted, De Gruyter checks if an open access agreement applies.
  • After acceptance, in all cases, no article processing charge will be charged. You will receive a confirmation email from our partner, Rightslink, that your OA funding has been approved.

 

For more details, check: https://www.degruyter.com/publishing/publications/openaccess/open-access-agreements

 


 

Elsevier (Selected hybrid journals) - Read and Publish Agreement New!

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Author who is a current staff member or a student at University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2027
Type of publication Limited to:
  • Case reports
  • Data in Briefs
  • Full-length articles
  • Micro-articles
  • Original software publication
  • Practice guidelines
  • Protocols
  • Replication studies
  • Review articles
  • Short communications
  • Short surveys
  • Video articles
Journal coverage

Selected hybrid journals only.

The full list can be find at: https://www.elsevier.com/open-access/agreements/julac#3-journals

 

Notes:

  • Gold (Fully) open access journals are not covered.
  • Some journals published by Elsevier, such as Cell Press journals, are also not covered.
Quota limit Limited free APC credits. First come first served.

More details on the Elsevier's Read and Publish agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

  • Step 1 – Once the journal accepts your article, you will receive an email containing a link to the “post acceptance author journey”.
  • Step 2 – You will be asked to review your affiliation and funder details. Based on this information, you will see personalised publishing options including the option to publish under the agreement.

    screenshot 1: select The University of Hong Kong from drop down menu

     
  • Step 3 – You will confirm your publishing choices and complete the post acceptance journey.

    screenshot 2: select publish as open access article


    screenshot 3: select a desired creative commons license

    screenshot 4: total payment shown to be zero
     
  • Step 4 – The Libraries will validate your eligibility for the agreement.
  • Step 5 – You and your co-authors will receive an email to confirm that the APC discount will be applied.

 

For more details, check: https://www.elsevier.com/open-access/agreements/julac#1-process

 

iop logo

IOP Publishing - Read & Publish Agreement

Item Description
Eligibility

"Corresponding Author" affiliated with the University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

Notes:

The “Corresponding Author” is the author who submits a manuscript to and communicates with the journal.
For each article, there is only one "Corresponding Author".

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2023 - 31 December 2025
Type of publication

Eligible article types include:
–    Papers
–    Special issue papers
–    Reviews
–    Letters

Journal coverage

IOP hybrid & gold open access journals

Details of the journal titles can be found at: https://publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org/questions/eligible-journals-transformative-agreements/ (Lists A, B, C & D), ECS Advances and ECS Sensors Plus

Quota limit Unlimited free APC credits

More details on IOP Publishing's Transformative Agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

1.

Submit manuscript to an eligible IOP Publishing journal via ScholarOne (IOP Publishing journals' submission system).

Screenshot of IOP submission

 

2.

At step 4 (Author Information), enter author information. Make sure the affiliation is clearly stated on the submission form. Use the autofill to provide institution name.

Screenshot of state institution

There will be only one corresponding author, who submits the manuscript and communicates with the journal during the process.

 

3.

Progress to the Step 6 (Policies & Information).
Decide open access choice.
Only in the event that the article is found to be ineligible, the selection here will apply. If you do not wish to pay an APC to publish open access, select ‘No’.

Screenshot of select no in case not eligible

 

4.

No matter which choice is made in the above step, IOP will always check whether the article is eligible under an institutional agreement. If so, there will be a separate notification email with a subject line ‘Open access options for your article: article ID’.

Screenshot of email example

 

5.

During the peer review process, or after article is accepted, sign the open access copyright form to publish under a CC-BY licence.

Request for APC waiver will be handled.

 

 

Note:

Most IOP Publishing journals uses ScholarOne.
A small number of the journals do not use ScholarOne. For those, the submission process will differ but eligible articles will still be identified and authors will receive relevant notification e-mails.

 

 

View a quick guide on the procedure by IOP Publishing here:

https://publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org/questions/submit-under-a-transformative-agreement-guide/

 

 

 

Karger - Publish and Access Agreement

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding authors affiliated with HKU at the point of acceptance are eligible for full coverage of APC and Author's ChoiceTM publication fee and all additional publication costs for articles published in full Open Access and hybrid journals (subscription journals with an Open Access option).

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2021 - 31 December 2026
Type of publication Eligible article types include: “original research articles”, “review articles”, “proceedings”, “letters”, and “editorials”, etc. 
Journal coverage Full OA and hybrid journals covering a wide range of biomedical subject areas are included in the Open Access (or Publish & Access) agreement. Details of the eligible journal titles can be found on this page.
Quota limit Unlimited free APC credits as long as your articles are accepted within the agreement period.

More details on the Karger Publish and Access Agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

Step 1

In acceptance email, click on the green button ‘Select Publication Route’ to visit the Submission Platform.

Click on ‘Log in to MyKarger’ and enter your email and password.

Screen capture of Click on ‘Log in to MyKarger’
 

Step 2

On your dashboard go to ‘Accepted’. Identify the article.

Click on ‘Select publishing option’.

Screen capture of Click on ‘Select publishing option’

 

Step 3

Eligibility for Open Access publication cost coverage will be displayed if applicable. Click on ‘Accept Waiver’ to publish without costs.

Screen capture of Click on ‘Accept Waiver’ to publish without or with reduced costs.

 

Step 4

Read, accept, and confirm the License Agreement.

 

View a quick guide on the procedure by Karger here:
www.karger.com/open-access/submit-and-publish-open-access.

logo

 

Microbiology Society - Read & Publish Agreement

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Author affiliated with the University of Hong Kong on the date of submission

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2023 - 31 December 2025
Type of publication

Articles

Journal coverage

Microbiology Society hybrid & full open access journals/platforms

Details of the titles can be found at: https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/submission-and-peer-review#1

Quota limit Unlimited free APC credits

More details on Microbiology Society's Read & Publish Agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

1.

Submit your manuscript to an eligible journal. Provide affiliation and your HKU email in the manuscript.

In the Editorial manager submission system, enter your "@hku.hk" email and affiliation.

 

 Screenshot of provide affiliation and your HKU email in the manuscript

 

2.

During submission, indicate your eligibility ("Yes") for fee-free Open Access publication via a Publish and Read agreement.

 

Screenshot of indicate your eligibility

 

3.

Submit article for Open Access publication ("Yes") and click "View Publication Charges" to confirm eligibility.

 

Screenshot of submit article for Open Access publication

Screenshot of confirm eligibility

 

4.

After the APC request is handled, you will receive an email confirmation that the article is covered for fee-free Open Access publication.

 

5.

An acknowledge will be shown on the bottom of the first page of the published paper:
"This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author's institution."

 

 

Note:

If you have any queries, please contact journals@microbiologysociety.org with the subject line:
Publish and Read query (and provide your manuscript number).

 

View a quick guide on the procedure by Microbiology Society here:

https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/upload/MBS_Pub_Readauthorguide.pdf

 

 

Oxford University Press logo
 

Oxford University Press (Selected hybrid journals) - Read and Publish Agreement New!

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Author who is a current staff member or a student at University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2027
Type of publication

Limited to research article, review article, case report or brief report

Articles in supplements (i.e. specifically designated issues supplementary to a journal’s usual publication, often sponsored by third parties) are not included

Journal coverage

Selected hybrid journals only.

The full list can be find at: https://academic.oup.com/pages/open-research/read-and-publish-agreements/participating-journals-and-institutions

 

Notes:

  • Gold (Fully) open access journals are not covered.
Quota limit Unlimited free APC credits.

More details on the OUP's Read and Publish agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

  1. Once your article has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication, you will receive an email
    which contains a link to the Online Licensing and Payments System, SciPris.
  2. Click 'Select a license'.

     
  3. Proceed to request use of the Read and Publish Agreement funds.
  4. Click ‘Continue with open access agreement’.

     
  5. Sign in and create an account if you don’t have one.

     
  6. Select a license and click ‘I accept’.

     
  7. Send the request for review.

 

For more details, check: https://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/academic/pdf/online/r&p_author_guide.pdf

 

RUP logo
 

Rockefeller University Press - Read and Publish Agreement New!

Item Description
Eligibility

Primary Corresponding Author who is a current staff member or a student at University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2026
Type of publication

Article, Brief Definitive Report, Communication, Hypothesis, Methods and Approaches, Report, Technical Advances and Resources, and Tools

Journal coverage
  • Journal of Cell Biology (JCB)

  • Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM)

  • Journal of General Physiology (JGP)

Quota limit Unlimited free APC credits.

More details on the Rockefeller University Press' Read and Publish agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

  • During submission, check the box for primary corresponding author.
  • Use the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as your affiliation (or one of your affiliations) and provide a correspondence address at the HKU.
  • Click "Validate Institution".


     
  • After clicking Validate Institution, the Search for Organizations interface will pop up. Search for "University of Hong Kong" to select the matching name from the drop down menu. Save.


     
  • If the manuscript is accepted for publication, you will receive an email with a link to complete a License to Publish. Check the option to publish immediate Open Access under a CC-BY license enabled by Read-and-Publish agreement.


     
  • The invoice will indicate that the Open Access fee has been paid for by the institution.

 

For more details, check: https://rupress.org/DocumentLibrary/umbrella/Author-Guides/R-n-P-author-guide.pdf

 

The Royal Society Logo
 

The Royal Society - Read and Publish Agreement New!

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Author who is a current staff member or a student at University of Hong Kong at the point of submission

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2027
Type of publication

Articles

Journal coverage

  • Biology Letters
  • Interface
  • Interface Focus
  • Notes and Records
  • Open Biology
  • Philosophical Transactions A
  • Philosophical Transactions B
  • Proceedings A
  • Proceedings B
  • Royal Society Open Science

 

Quota limit Unlimited free APC credits.

More details on the The Royal Society's Read and Publish agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

  • In the ScholarOne system, make sure that the author from HKU is the "corresponding author".
  • Select the University of Hong Kong (HKU) from the search list.
  • Provide a correspondence address at the HKU (@connect.hku.hk or @hku.hk).
  • Select Open Access during the submission process or at the revision stage.
  • If you have opted for open access, you will be provided with a link at acceptance (either by email or in your author dashboard) which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center Rightslink payment page (personal account required).
  • After approval, all open access costs will be automatically handled by the Libraries.

 

For more details, check: https://royalsociety.org/journals/authors/read-and-publish/

 

portland press logo
 

Portland Press - Read & Publish Agreement

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Author affiliated with the University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2023 - 31 December 2025
Type of publication Unlimited
Journal coverage All 7 Portland Press journals. Details of the journal titles can be found at: https://portlandpress.com/pages/submit_your_work
Quota limit Unlimited free APC credits

More details on Portland Press's Read & Publish Agreement can be found here.

 

Procedure

1.

Submit manuscript to a Portland Press journal.

Validate affiliation by clicking on "Validate Institution". In the pop-up window, search for The University of Hong Kong and save.

Screenshot of validate institution

 

2.

Progress to the Detailed Information tab of the submission form. The system will check the affiliation against the list of institutional agreements in RightsLink.

A message will be shown for institution holding an active Read & Publish agreement with Portland Press.

Screenshot of message about open access option

 

3.

After article is accepted, request for APC waiver will be handled.

 

 

Download a quick guide on the procedure by Portland Press here:

https://portlandpress.com/DocumentLibrary/Umbrella/RandP/Portland%20Press%20RandP%20workflow%20for%20authors.pdf

 

 


 

SPIE - Read and Publish Agreement New!

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Author who is a current staff member or a student at University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025
Type of publication

Articles

Journal coverage
  • Advanced Photonics
  • Advanced Photonics Nexus
  • Biophotonics Discovery
  • Journal of Applied Remote Sensing (JARS)
  • Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems (JATIS)
  • Journal of Biomedical Optics (JBO)
  • Journal of Electronic Imaging (JEI)
  • Journal of Medical Imaging (JMI)
  • Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials, and Metrology
  • Journal of Nanophotonics (JNP)
  • Journal of Optical Microsystems (JOM)
  • Journal of Photonics for Energy (JPE)
  • Neurophotonics (NPh)
  • Optical Engineering (OE)
  • Photonics Insights – Diamond Open Access
Quota limit Unlimited free APC credits.

More details on the SPIE's Read and Publish agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

  • Use the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as your affiliation (or one of your affliations) and provide a correspondence address at the HKU.
  • Opt for Open Access.
  • In the journal submission system, there will be a question on whether your institution has reached a R&P agreement with SPIE.
  • On the list of institutions with agreements, you should be able to see the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

 

For more details, check: www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/open-access#read

 

springer nature logo

 

Springer Hybrid Journals - Transformational Agreement

Item Description
Eligibility

Corresponding Author who is a current teaching/research staff member or a student at University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2024 - 31 December 2026
Type of publication

Limited to:
a) Original Paper – Standard article, usually presenting new results; articles published under this article type may also be referred to as Original Research, Original Article, Original Paper or Research Paper.
b) Review Paper – Standard article, interpreting previously published results.
c) Brief Communication – Short article submitted for rapid publication that exhibits the same structure as a
standard article.
d) Continuing Education – Article forming integral part of further education (usually medical).

Journal coverage

Springer Hybrid Journals

Check the list at: https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/oa-agreements/julac

 

Notes:

  • Gold (Fully) open access journals are not covered.
  • Other journals published by Springer Nature, such as Nature Portfolio journals, are also not covered.
Quota limit Limited free APC credits. First come first served.

More details on Springer Nature’s transformational agreements can be found here.

 

Procedure

1.

When you are the corresponding author, once your article has been editorially accepted by an eligible hybrid journal, you will receive an invitation to complete the publishing agreement.

 Screenshot of receive an invitation to complete the publishing agreement


2.

In Open Access information page, read basic information about publishing the article open access, including the Article Processing Charge (APC).

 Screenshot of read basic information about publishing the article open access
 

3.

Confirm the affiliation provided on submission for eligibility.

Note:

You can change the affiliation if you have moved or it is incorrect. Changing affiliation here only affects identification for open access agreements, not the affiliation listed on the published article.

 Screenshot of changing affiliation
 

4.

Select institution (the University of Hong Kong) and the system will identify possible eligible agreements.
If you are publishing an appropriate article type in an included journal, you can ask the institution to cover the publishing costs.

Screenshot of select institution and the system will identify possible eligible agreements

 

5.

Read confirmation information about the agreement. Click "Next" to publish your article under the agreement between HKU and Springer Nature.

Note:

An option to opt out of the agreement and publish under a subscription model is available at this stage.

Screenshot of read confirmation information about the agreement

 

6.

Read the summary of the information you have provided and the agreements selected. Change incorrect information, if any, at this stage.
If the quota under the agreement is used up, you will be informed here.

Screenshot of read the summary of the information you have provided and the agreements selected

 

7.

Your request will be processed by the Libraries.

 

8.
Once your request is approved, proceed to agree to publish, sign Licence to Publish (LTP), and confirm the completed license.


Note:

In case of rejection, the author has the option to publish open access with his/her own funding or publish traditionally non-open access.

 

For more details, check: https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/oa-agreements/julac

 

 

wiley logo         

 

Wiley - Transformational Agreement

Item Description
Eligibility

Responsible Corresponding Author affiliated with the University of Hong Kong at the point of acceptance

In the manuscript submitted, the affiliation (or one of the affiliations) of the corresponding author must be the University of Hong Kong.

Agreement period 1 January 2023 - 31 December 2025
Type of publication

Limited to article types which are primary research and review articles, including but not limited to:
–    Research Articles
–    Review Articles

–    Case studies
–    Reviews
–    Short communications

Journal coverage Selected Wiley and Hindawi fully and hybrid open access journals
Details of the eligible journal titles can be found at:
–    Wiley hybrid open access journal: https://authorservices.wiley.com/asset/Wiley-Journal-APCs-OnlineOpen.xlsx
–    Wiley fully open access journals: https://authorservices.wiley.com/asset/Wiley-Journal-APCs-Open-Access.xlsx
Quota limit Limited free APC credits. First come first served.

More details on Wiley’s transformational agreements can be found here.

 

Procedures

The application procedures for I. Wiley hybrid open access journals and II. Wiley fully open access journals are different. Please scroll down for details.

 

I. Wiley hybrid open access journals

 

1.

After article accepted by a Wiley hybrid open access journal, register or log in to Wiley Author Services at https://authorservices.wiley.com/home.html.
Click on the ‘Manage article’ button.

Screenshot of manage article

2.

Confirm author role.
Only one author can be selected as the Responsible Corresponding Author, who is the only person responsible for signing the license. His/her affiliation is used to determine eligibility for APC coverage.

Screenshot of confirm author roleScreenshot of select affiliation 

3.

Add/edit any new/existing funder(s).

4.

Confirm/enter institutional affiliation. Select from the drop down menu.


When there is an exact match for eligible institutional affiliation, an eligibility message will show on the main homepage of Author Services, as well.
Screenshot of confirm affiliationScreenshot of main homepage of Author Services 

If affiliations with multiple institutions were entered, select which institution is most appropriate to cover the open access fees.

A purple ‘Open Access’ box will also be shown to alert the author that he/she has triggered the eligibility criteria for funding based on their affiliation.

Screenshot of confirm affiliation

5.

Select Copyright Ownership.

6.

Confirm open access by clicking "Yes, make my article open access".
Screenshot of confirm open access 

7.

Select a Creative Commons license. Sign and submit the license.

After signing and submitting license for the article, a funding request will be submitted to the institution for review and approval.
Screenshot of order submitted message

8.
If the request is approved, there will be a confirmation email.
If the request is denied, there will be an email asking the author to pay for open access. If open access is not paid for, the article will be published as a subscription article.

 

 

Download a quick guide on the procedure by Wiley here:

https://authorservices.wiley.com/asset/Make-your-article-open-access-with-OnlineOpen.pdf

 


II. Wiley fully open access journals

 

1.

During submission*, you will be asked to confirm your institutional affiliations to accompany your manuscript. This information will also be used to determine your eligibility for funding through your institution.

 

 

2.
If the APC request is approved, there will be a notification email.

 

3.
When the article is accepted, sign the license agreement. No payment steps are necessary.

Screenshot of click the open access button

 

 

Download a quick guide on the procedure by Wiley here:

https://authorservices.wiley.com/asset/Publishing-Your-Article-In-a-Fully-Open-Access-Journal.pdf