CU Boulder authors can publish open access in PLOS journals without charge

The University Libraries have entered into a three-year agreement with PLOS journals that will cover the cost of Article Processing Charges (APCs) for any author affiliated with CU Boulder. 

PLOS is a nonprofit, open access publisher that produces 12 influential peer-reviewed science, technology, and medicine journals. The University Libraries’ partnership with PLOS demonstrates CU Boulder’s commitment to accelerating the adoption of open access. 

According to the agreement, all CU Boulder corresponding authors are eligible for unlimited publishing in all 12 PLOS journals with no APCs for three years.

“We are excited to partner with PLOS as their commitment to full open access, transparent and sustainable pricing, and publishing equity makes them an ideal publisher to support in advancing the Libraries' goal of being ‘leaders in equitable information production, discovery and access,” Andrew Johnson, interim executive director of the Center for Research Data and Digital Scholarship (CRDDS) said. 

Scholarly Communication Librarian Melissa Cantrell says the agreement will have an impact on researchers’ ability to expand the impact of their work.

“This agreement removes the cost barrier for open access to allow authors to showcase their research to the world in leading journals in over 200 disciplines in science and medicine,” Cantrell said.

To take advantage of the agreement, be sure to use your “colorado.edu” email address and select “University of Colorado Boulder” as your institutional affiliation from the drop-down list. 

The University Libraries negotiates directly with publishers to enable open access publishing agreements that benefit researchers at CU Boulder and promote open scholarly communication globally. 

For more information on the PLOS membership to support open access publishing, or to learn more about additional publishing agreements, visit the Libraries’ website.