Open Access publisher agreements

Transformative agreements, publisher prepayments, memberships and APC discounts

Brunel University of London has a range of agreements with major academic publishers that enable eligible Brunel authors to publish open access (OA) in thousands of journals at no additional cost. These agreements include:

Transformative agreements (Read & Publish / Publish & Read) combining subscription access with prepaid publishing.
Publisher prepayment schemes where OA publishing costs are paid in advance.
Membership-based APC discounts reducing fees for publishing in fully open access journals.

Not all journals from participating publishers are covered and not all article types or authors are eligible. Also, these agreements do not apply to book chapters or monographs.

Journals covered

List of journals covered by Brunel's Transformative Agreements

We compile this list using Journal Checker Tool data and update it twice a year. While accurate at the time of release, publishers may add or remove titles at any time, so the list should be treated as indicative, rather than definitive.

Using transformative agreements

Before submitting a paper to any journal where an APC may apply - whether hybrid or fully open access - authors must complete our pre-submission form and wait for confirmation. The Open Access team will confirm whether your target journal is covered under an agreement, article and author eligibility and whether APC funding is available, if applicable. This step is mandatory for fully open access journals, or any submission involving potential publication charges or where there is direct acknowledgement of grant funding. See Open Access and how to apply for Gold OA publishing funds for further details.

Transformative agreements held at Brunel

Agreements held currently are detailed below. Please note that negotiations for several major deals concluded in December 2025. Renewals are underway and are expected to complete by March 2026. Information on this page will be reviewed and updated as soon as possible.

British Medical Journal (BMJ) Publish and Read 2023-2025

Type: Transformative Agreement.
Eligible article types: Original research articles reporting on primary research.
Included journals: Eligible BMJ hybrid and fully OA journals included in the agreement.
Deal limit: Uncapped, no pauses expected.
Expiry: 31 December 2025.
Notes: Authors must choose a CC BY licence. All eligible outputs from eligible corresponding authors are made open access immediately upon publication. No direct charge to authors or Brunel for eligible papers from eligible corresponding authors.
Guidance for authors: BMJ outline the agreement details here. Authors submitting to fully open access BMJ journals must complete this form before submission and wait for confirmation of funding availability.

Cambridge University Press (CUP) Read and Publish 2021-2025

Type: Transformative Agreement.
Eligible article types: Research articles, review articles and rapid communications, brief reports and case reports.
Included journals: Hybrid and fully OA CUP titles covered by the agreement.
Deal limit: Uncapped (first year only), rolling threshold model from year 2 onward; no pauses expected before the end of the agreement.
Expiry: 31 December 2025.
Notes: No further costs charged eligible Brunel corresponding authors publishing eligible article types in journals covered.
Guidance for authors: CUP provide guidance for authors here. Authors submitting to fully open access CUP journals must complete this form before submission and wait for confirmation of funding availability.

Elsevier Read and Publish 2022-2025

Type: Transformative Agreement.
Eligible article types: Case reports; Data in Brief; full-length articles; micro-articles; original software publication; practice guidelines; protocols; review articles; replication studies; short communications; short surveys; video articles.
Included journals: Hybrid titles and some fully OA titles are included in the agreement.
Deal limit: Uncapped - no pauses expected.
Expiry: 31 December 2025.
Notes: Many fully OA Elsevier journals are not included in this agreement and still charge an APC, with discounts available to subscribing institutions.
Guidance for authors: Authors submitting to fully open access Elsevier journals must complete this form before submission and wait for confirmation of funding availability.

Institute of Physics (IOP) Read and Publish 2024-2025

Type: Transformative Agreement.
Eligible article types: Research articles and reviews (letters, papers, reviews and special issue articles).
Included journals: 55 hybrid titles + 21 fully OA titles.
Deal limit: Uncapped - no pauses expected.
Expiry: 31 December 2025.
Notes: Unlimited open access publication by researchers at participating institutions in eligible titles.
Guidance for authors: Authors submitting to fully open access IOP journals must complete this form before submission and wait for confirmation of funding availability.

Oxford University Press (OUP) Read and Publish 2024-2025

Type: Transformative Agreement.
Eligible article types: Research and review articles.
Included journals: Hybrid and fully OA OUP titles included in the agreement. Exclusions apply.
Deal limit:
Expiry: 31 December 2025.
Notes: There will be no direct charge for open access publishing of research or review articles submitted to included titles for eligible corresponding authors.
Guidance for authors: To include your paper, follow the steps outlined in OUP's guidance. Authors submitting to fully open access OUP journals must complete this form before submission and wait for confirmation of funding availability.

Sage Journals Read and Publish 2023-2025

Type: Transformative Agreement.
Eligible article types: Research outputs classified by Sage as 'articles.'
Included journals: Sage Choice subscription journals. Fully OA Sage journals are excluded, and require an APC (discounts available).
Deal limit: No pauses expected.
Expiry: 31 December 2025.
Guidance for authors: Authors submitting to fully open access Sage journals must complete this form before submission and wait for confirmation of funding availability.

Springer Nature Read and Publish 2023-2025

Type: Transformative Agreement.
Eligible article types: Original research papers; review papers; brief communications; continuing education.
Included journals: 'Open Choice' hybrid/subscription journals. Most fully open access Springer and BMC journals still charge APCs (discounts available).
Deal limit: Uncapped for hybrid titles in the Springer agreement. The related Nature Research portfolio agreement is capped sector-wide; when caps are reached, an alternative repository deposit option allowing immediate CC BY open access can be used.
Expiry: 31 December 2025.
Notes: Authors submitting to fully open access Springer Nature journals must complete this form before submission and wait for confirmation of funding availability.
Guidance for authors: To include your paper, follow the steps outlined in the Workflow for authors section of their guidance.

Taylor and Francis Read and Publish 2024-2025

Type: Transformative Agreement.
Eligible article types: Original research articles. Types such as editorials, announcements, and book reviews, are not covered. 
Included journals: Participating hybrid and fully OA journals. Exclusions apply.
Deal limit:
Expiry: 31 December 2025.
Notes: Authors submitting to fully open access Taylor & Francis titles not covered by the agreement must complete this form before submission and wait for confirmation of funding availability.

Wiley Read and Publish 2024-2025

Type: Transformative Agreement.
Eligible article types: Primary research articles and review articles.
Included journals: Hybrid and fully OA journals included in the agreement. Exclusions apply.
Deal limit:
Hybrid/ subscription titles: Uncapped.
Fully OA titles: Capped sector-wide. The agreement may pause if the cap is reached.
Expiry: 31 December 2025.
Notes: Authors submitting to fully open access Wiley titles not covered by the agreement must complete this form before submission and wait for confirmation of funding availability.
Guidance for authors: Wiley provide guidance for including your paper in the deal, depending on whether it operates on a hybrid / subscription or Gold / fully open access journal model here.

Publisher prepayment schemes, memberships and discounts

Brunel holds further agreements and memberships with the following publishers which offer discounts on fully open access APCs. Please note that as fees are charged, authors must ensure they have completed this form and have received confirmation of funding availability from Open Access before submission.

If a paper is re-routed to a fully open access journal, the author should inform Open Access as soon as possible, and wait for confirmation of funding availability before finalising with the publisher.

Elsevier - fully OA titles excluded from the Read & Publish agreement

APC discount = 15%.
Papers for which Brunel has confirmed in advance, that it will cover the APC costs through completion of this form before submission, are eligible for a 15% discount on APCs from Elsevier.

Frontiers membership - fully OA

APC discount = 10%.
Papers for which Brunel has confirmed in advance, that it will cover the APC costs through completion of this form before submission, are eligible for a 10% discount on APCs from Frontiers.

Royal Society membership

APC discount = 25%.
Papers for which Brunel has confirmed in advance, that it will cover the APC costs through completion of this form before submission, are eligible for a 25% discount on APCs from the Royal Society.

Sage - fully OA titles outside the Read & Publish agreement above

APC discount = 20%.
Papers for which Brunel has confirmed in advance, that it will cover the APC costs through completion of this form before submission, are eligible for a 20% discount on APCs from Sage.