Table of Contents
Elsevier Open Access Agreement FAQ
Introduction
After more than two years of negotiations, in March 2021, the University of California announced a transformative open access agreement with Elsevier, the world’s largest academic publisher.
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These goals directly support LBNL’s responsibility as a steward of public funds and their mission to make their research freely available.
Terms of the Agreement
The four-year agreement runs from April 1, 2021, through March 2025 and incorporates open access publishing. Also, the agreement restores LBNL’s reading access to Elsevier’s journal titles and upholds the university’s goal to manage its costs for academic journal subscriptions responsibly.
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Open access will now be the default option for UC/LBNL corresponding authors, although authors may opt-out if they wish.
For Authors
Are UC/LBNL Authors Affected by this Agreement?
Yes, if you are:
An LBNL author or a UC affiliate (faculty, lecturer, staff, graduate student), AND
You are the article’s corresponding author, AND
You choose to publish your article open access in Elsevier’s titles (see below under “Which journals are included in the agreement?”)
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All LBNL employees and UC faculty, lecturers, staff, and students have access to read articles published in Elsevier journals the libraries subscribed to before, plus other journals to which LBNL previously did not subscribe.
Who is considered a corresponding author?
Elsevier defines a corresponding author as the individual who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process.
Typically, the corresponding author also ensures that all the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and gathering conflict of interest forms and statements, are appropriately completed. However, these duties may be delegated to one or more co-authors.
Why am I being asked to use program funds?
The LBNL libraries are committed to paying a substantial share of the article processing charge for all UC authors, including full payment for authors who do not have grant funds available. However, the libraries’ budget alone cannot cover the total cost of open access publishing for every LBNL author while also continuing to pay for subscription access where needed.
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In general, publication costs can be charged to federal grants in the U.S. By contributing grant funds, particularly from federal agencies, LBNL authors demonstrate their commitment to making their publicly-funded research accessible to the public. Open Access publishing remains the simplest way to comply with the Department of Energy's public access mandate, although other routes to compliance are available to authors." Additionally, participating in this way ensures the pool of available funds for LBNL authors who do not have grant funding will be available to support their open access publishing.
What if I don't have any grant money? Can I still publish open access with Elsevier?
You can still publish your article with open access. If you do not have grant money or your grant funds are insufficient to cover the remainder of the article processing charge beyond the libraries’ standard contribution, the LBNL libraries will pay your full Article Processing Charge pr APC.
What types of publications are covered by this agreement?
This agreement covers all articles included in the journals outlined below (see under “Which journals are included in the agreement?”), as long as they have the option for paying a fee for open access (an Article Processing Charge or APC). These include:
full length articles
short communications
short surveys
reviews
data in brief
case reports
microarticles
original software publications
video articles
insights
protocols
Which journals are included in the agreement?
The agreement will provide for open access publishing of LBNL research in Elsevier hybrid and fully open access journals, totaling nearly 2,300 Elsevier journals. However, a limited number of societies that partner with Elsevier for their publishing have chosen to exclude their journals from transformative agreements, so their journals are not eligible for either reading, publishing, or both under the agreement. A list of these exclusions will be available soon.
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2: Seven Cell Press journals which previously allowed hybrid OA publishing will be included for OA publishing from the start of the agreement, along with the full OA Cell Press and The Lancet journals. All other Premium journals will be included for OA publishing by April 2023, or earlier if finances allow.
If I publish open access under this agreement, will I retain rights/copyright to my own work?
No, but the University of California will retain rights/copyright to your own work. As an employee at LBNL, you signed an Intellectual Property Acknowledgement in which you have assigned copyright to your works to the University of California. One of the benefits of publishing open access under this agreement is that the University of California retains copyright to your work. The Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license will be the default selection. Please select the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY NC ND) license. You can learn more about these Creative Commons license options here.
What if I don't want to publish open access? Can I still publish with Elsevier?
Yes. Where and how you publish is your decision. The agreement with Elsevier does not mandate open access publishing nor does it dictate your journal selection. Rather, it makes open access publishing a more affordable option for most Elsevier journals, and you can opt out.
If I choose to publish open access, how do payments work?
Beginning April 1, 2021, if you are a UC/LBNL corresponding author of an Elsevier article in one of the eligible journals, at the time your article is accepted, you will be presented with the option for open access publication, which will appear as a default choice.
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