Project to waive fees for about 400 open-access journals

“Academics in 5,000 institutions in 107 low- and medium-income countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, North and South America and Europe, will benefit from the Cambridge Open Equity Initiative, a pilot project that will allow them to publish their research in about 400 open-access journals that are owned by the Cambridge University Press (CUP) – at no cost to them.

According to Mandy Hill, the managing director of academic publishing at CUP, the initiative will operate from 1 July 2023 to the end of 2024 with the aim of eradicating barriers that affect academic authors in developing countries who want their research to be visible globally….”

Cambridge Open Equity Initiative

“There are many advantages for the author and their research when publishing open access; more citations, more downloads, and increased reach. We recognise that not all authors have the same opportunities to realise these advantages due of a lack of funding for their work.

 

The Cambridge Open Equity Initiative is a new pilot designed to support authors in low- and middle-income countries who wish to publish their research open access but do not have access to funding….

Authors will be eligible from July 1st 2023. No application is required and authors are automatically recognised as eligible for open access publishing once their paper has been accepted. 

Authors are able to submit their paper to all of our gold and hybrid journals at no direct cost to them or their institution. All original research, including research articles, review articles, rapid communications, brief reports, and case reports are eligible.

Over 5,000 institutions across more than 100 countries will benefit from the support offered by the Cambridge Open Equity Initiative. The full list of eligible countries is available here….”

Majority of Cambridge Research Papers Now Open Access

Over 50 percent of Cambridge University Press research articles are now published open access (OA) and so freely available to read.
Having passed the 50 percent threshold for last year – approximately 10,000 papers being fully open – Cambridge University Press is aiming for the vast majority of its research papers to be published fully open access by 2025.

Announcing three new open access agreements | VTx | Virginia Tech

“University Libraries at Virginia Tech has announced three new transformative agreements to bring read and publish access to journals from Cambridge University Press, the International Water Association (IWA), and the Institute of Physics (IOP). These agreements are available through Virginia Tech’s membership in VIVA, the academic library consortium of Virginia. As a result of these agreements, starting Jan. 1, 2023, corresponding authors at Virginia Tech are now able to publish open access articles in nearly 500 more journals at no cost to the authors. Additionally, the Virginia Tech community has expanded access to be able to read content from these publishers.”

The cost of our journal publishing programme

“We strive to publish high-quality journals as efficiently as we can. We have a diverse portfolio of journals and business models, with more than half of the journals we publish being owned and editorially managed by our society partners. This chart shows how our journal revenues are spent across our full journals publishing programme, supporting investment decisions from authors, funders and institutions….”

Can publishers resist self-censorship in China? | Times Higher Education (THE)

“Five years on from Cambridge University Press’ controversial compliance with a Chinese government request to make more than 300 articles unavailable to Chinese readers, publishers are increasingly self-censoring content on ‘sensitive’ topics….

The issue came to light five years ago, when it emerged in the UK’s national press that Cambridge University Press (CUP) had removed “sensitive” content from its prestigious China studies journal, China Quarterly. Since then, other publishers have faced similar accusations of bowing to pressure from Beijing. Springer Nature has restricted access to more than 1,000 articles, while Taylor & Francis, Sage Publishing and Brill have navigated strict content restrictions.

Although some publishers have found routes to navigate these restrictions without self-censoring their online platforms, others appear to be more deeply enmeshed in China’s censorship apparatus – and in recent years, the access constraints facing so-called controversial papers have gone much further than many believe, straying beyond familiar red-flag topics on an unprecedented scale.

By comparing UK-based and China-based IP addresses and the content discrepancies between the two, I’ve managed to gain some handle on the scale of publication data that is now inaccessible in China. My analysis suggests that more than 28,000 records of publication have been suppressed on publisher platforms accessible by Chinese scholars or the public….”

 

Can publishers resist self-censorship in China? | Times Higher Education (THE)

“Five years on from Cambridge University Press’ controversial compliance with a Chinese government request to make more than 300 articles unavailable to Chinese readers, publishers are increasingly self-censoring content on ‘sensitive’ topics….

The issue came to light five years ago, when it emerged in the UK’s national press that Cambridge University Press (CUP) had removed “sensitive” content from its prestigious China studies journal, China Quarterly. Since then, other publishers have faced similar accusations of bowing to pressure from Beijing. Springer Nature has restricted access to more than 1,000 articles, while Taylor & Francis, Sage Publishing and Brill have navigated strict content restrictions.

Although some publishers have found routes to navigate these restrictions without self-censoring their online platforms, others appear to be more deeply enmeshed in China’s censorship apparatus – and in recent years, the access constraints facing so-called controversial papers have gone much further than many believe, straying beyond familiar red-flag topics on an unprecedented scale.

By comparing UK-based and China-based IP addresses and the content discrepancies between the two, I’ve managed to gain some handle on the scale of publication data that is now inaccessible in China. My analysis suggests that more than 28,000 records of publication have been suppressed on publisher platforms accessible by Chinese scholars or the public….”

 

Transition to Open Access: Tackling Complexity and Building Trust – Publishing Perspectives

“This spring, Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) presented a special “OA Innovation Seminar Series.” On behalf of Publishing Perspectives, Christopher Kenneally revisited comments from two guests who appeared in this series and are seeing positive outcomes in their transitions to open access….”

The Bookseller – News – CUP announces new series of Open Access journals to address ‘global c

“Cambridge University Press (CUP) has announced a new series of Open Access journals that will address “global challenges by bringing together researchers across national and subject boundaries”. 

Cambridge Prisms promises to “shape solutions to major scientific, technological and medical challenges with cutting-edge research and reviews”. The scope of each journal will be built around broad, subject neutral topics. In 2023 these will be Coastal Futures, Precision Medicine, Global Mental Health, Extinction, Plastics and Water. The journals will “encourage collaboration between researchers from different disciplines and make it easy for readers to find relevant content”. 

Jess Jones, the publisher and senior scientific editor at the press overseeing the series, said: “As a publisher, we often see papers submitted where we know another author’s work in peer review would have strengthened its reach and impact. We want to break down these barriers and be involved in accelerating the formation of new research networks. ”

Updates on Parasitology and adopting a Gold Open Access Model of production | Parasitology | Cambridge Core

“Many readers will have noted that all published articles within Parasitology from January 2022 onwards were available online only. The hardcopy production, like many other academic journals, has now ceased. This is true not only for regular issues but also for forthcoming special issues. Moreover, from January 2023, Parasitology will become Open Access (OA) where we adopt a Gold Open Access Model, specifically a non-exclusive Gold Open Access CC-BY licence….”

Cambridge’s Transformative Journals see 70 per cent leap in research published open access | STM Publishing News

“The amount of new research published open access (OA) in Cambridge’s Transformative Journals (TJs) leaped by almost 70 per cent in 2021.

Cambridge University Press revealed the figure in an update to the cOAlition S group of funders on the progress of its TJ programme.

The update also shows that the programme exceeded its open access growth target for the year, playing an important role in Cambridge’s plans to transform the vast majority of the research publishing in its journals to OA by 2025.

Overall, the proportion of research articles published Gold OA in Cambridge journals increased to 36 per cent last year – a 47 per cent increase on 2020. The publisher expects that to have reached 50 per cent by the end of this year….”

The OA Advantage

“Join our team as they guide you through the basics of open access (OA), highlight key benefits for your research, and present evidence of the increased impact of choosing OA.

We will also explore funding options for publishing OA, including how to benefit from publishing agreements with your institution….”

Emory Libraries announce open access publishing agreement with Cambridge University Press

“Emory University researchers can publish their work “open access” in all Cambridge University Press journals without paying a publishing cost, thanks to an agreement between Emory Libraries and Cambridge University Press.

Open-access journals don’t charge libraries or readers to access their articles. Instead, they pass along the cost to authors through an article-publishing fee that can range from $500 to more than $10,000. The agreement with Cambridge University Press exempts Emory researchers from paying that fee….”

Cambridge Journals 2022-2024 Open Access Publishing: Information for Authors

“OhioLINK is embarking upon an agreement with Cambridge University Press with two major benefits for students and faculty at institutions of higher education in Ohio.  This deal provides expanded access to important published research from Cambridge University Press and is the first such “Read & Publish” deal with an open access publishing component for OhioLINK. 

Starting January 1, 2022, students, faculty, and staff at most OhioLINK member institutions will  have access to current articles published in all 400+ journals published by Cambridge University Press. An important new component of this agreement is the ability for authors at OhioLINK member institutions to publish open access (OA) journal articles at Cambridge University Press-published journals at no additional charge to either the author or the institution.”

Researching the researcher – responding to Open Access and publishing needs

In July 2021 Cambridge University Press worked with an external research agency to explore a number of key areas around researcher awareness and needs in open access (OA), impact and pain points.

In total over 4,000 Academics from around the world responded, of mixed career stages and spanning over 20 subjects in the Humanities, Social Sciences and STM.