Oxford University Press announces agreement in principle with Iowa State University for first US Read & Publish deal | Journals | Oxford Academic

“Oxford University Press is delighted to announce its first Read & Publish deal with a US institution, having reached an agreement in principle with the Iowa State University Library. The parties hope to finalize the details of the agreement by the end of the year.

This is OUP’s first Read & Publish deal outside of Europe and will include access to the full OUP journals collection, including over 300 journals with an Open Access publishing option, and more than 60 fully Open Access journals. Researchers at Iowa State will be able to publish their articles via Open Access immediately upon publication in an OUP journal….”

Faculty senate green lights negotiation principles with unanimous vote | University Library | Iowa State University

“On October 15, the Iowa State University Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution that supports the University Library’s Principles for Advancing Openness through Journal Negotiations.

The journal negotiation principles, adopted this summer, help the University Library advance openness and achieve financial sustainability and greater transparency. The principles and the support they have received will provide useful guidance to the library in its current and future negotiations, helping to inform journal publishers about what is most important at Iowa State.

The resolution’s three main points are:

Prioritize openness through open access sources
Reject nondisclosure language in agreements with publishers
Pursue financially sustainable journal agreements

The University Library Advisory Committee, representing faculty, students, and staff, has also written a letter of endorsement for the principles. These actions demonstrate strong support for the library in managing journal costs and advancing open access….”

“Principles for Advancing Openness through Journal Negotiations” by IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

This is the full text: 

“1. PRIORITIZE OPENNESS As part of a public land grant university with a mission to create and share knowledge to make Iowa and the world a better place, the University Library will prioritize agreements that advance open access and other methods of open dissemination for research outputs. Participating in a global movement advocating for open access, we work toward democratizing access to knowledge by reducing financial barriers inherent in traditional publishing practices.

2. TRANSPARENCY — NO NON-DISCLOSURE Fair agreements that advance open access and control costs will only emerge from fair negotiations. Fair negotiations can only take place when publishers and libraries have equal access to information. Publisher practice has been to require non-disclosure agreements that restrict libraries from sharing the prices they pay and the terms and conditions of their agreements. The informational asymmetry this creates greatly favors the interests of publishers at the expense of libraries and their campuses. We will demonstrate our commitment to open access and transparency by rejecting non-disclosure language in our agreements and sharing our agreements publicly.

3. FINANCIALLY SUSTAINABLE Financially sustainable journal agreements will emerge from a diverse scholarly publishing landscape—where learned societies and not-for-profit publishers can compete and thrive; where innovation is incentivized and rewarded; and where reasonable profit margins are the norm. We will prioritize agreements that help shape this world and provide long-term financial sustainability to our library.”