Agreement between University of California and Elsevier
Elsevier and University of California (UC) have established an agreement to support affiliated authors who wish to publish open access.
This agreement helps UC authors to publish their research open access in Elsevier journals via a discount on the APC, as well as support from the UC libraries.
During the post-acceptance author journey, UC authors will automatically receive a discount on the APC, and at least the first $1,000 of the remaining APC will be covered by the UC libraries when authors publish in an eligible title.
If there is any remaining balance due on the APC, UC authors will be asked if they have research funding available to cover the balance. If an author does not have research funds available, the UC libraries will pay the entire APC on the author’s behalf.
How does the process work?
The process of publishing under the agreement is straightforward:
Step 1 – Once the journal accepts your article, you will receive an email containing a link to the “post acceptance author journey”.
Step 2 – You will be asked to review your affiliation and funder details. Based on this information, you will see personalised publishing options including the option to publish under the agreement.
Step 3 – You will confirm your publishing choices and complete the post acceptance journey.
Step 4 – Your institution will validate your eligibility for the agreement
Step 5 – You and your co-authors will receive an email to confirm that the APC discount will be applied, and at least the first $1,000 of the remaining APC will be covered by the UC libraries. If there is any remaining balance due on the APC, you will be asked if you have research funding available to cover the balance. If you do not have research funds available, the UC libraries will pay the entire APC on your behalf.
During the submission process, the system will present you with personalized publishing options, including any agreement or offer that you may be eligible for. You can indicate your publishing choice during submission, but you are not required to finalize your choice until after acceptance.
Which institutions are covered by this agreement?
This agreement supports corresponding authors (see FAQ at the bottom of this page) affiliated with a participating University of California institution.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
University of California Berkeley
University of California Davis
University of California Irvine
University of California Los Angeles
University of California Merced
University of California Office of the President
University of California Riverside
University of California San Diego
University of California San Francisco
University of California Santa Barbara
University of California Santa Cruz
Which journals are included in this agreement?
Authors can publish eligible articles (see FAQ at the bottom of this page) in a wide variety of participating Elsevier journals across a range of disciplines.
What are the author benefits of publishing open access with Elsevier?
There are lots of good reasons to publish open access; for example, the fact that OA articles are openly and widely available means it’s easy for others to find and build upon them, helping to accelerate discovery. In addition, publishing OA is a growing funder requirement. But with predatory journals on the rise, it’s important to ensure that the journal you publish in is reputable and trusted. When you publish open access with Elsevier, you benefit from:
A proven reputation: We have over 140 years of experience curating and verifying scientific knowledge.
Visibility: Your published article is included in the world’s biggest publishing platform, ScienceDirect, which has 20 million monthly unique visitors. In addition, your article is indexed and shared as widely as possible.
Choice: Our hybrid journals and fully OA journals span every scientific discipline and every tier of impact.
Expert support:You receiveadvice and support from experienced professionals at each stage of the publication process from submission through to peer review and post-acceptance.
To learn more about the benefits of publishing open access with Elsevier visit our Open Access Author Hub.
Eligibility FAQs
Articles must have an original acceptance date between 1 April 2021 and 31 December 2027.
For the purpose of eligibility under the agreement, there can only be one corresponding author. The corresponding author is the author who submits the manuscript and other documentation to the journal and is the primary contact between the journal and the co-authors. Importantly, the corresponding author’s affiliation will be used to determine eligibility for the publishing agreement. The affiliations of other co-authors are not relevant for agreement eligibility.
The corresponding author’s responsibilities include:
Ensuring that all authors have complied with the journal’s policies, including reviewing and approving the final version of the manuscript prior to submission.
Distributing and responding to communications from the journal (e.g., decision letters, reviewers’ reports).
Completing the post publication author journey including signing the Journal Publishing License Agreement, Rights and Access information form, and selection of open access options on behalf of, and with the agreement of, all co-authors of the paper.
Journals may follow requests of the team of authors and display other corresponding authors in the published article. Which corresponding authors are displayed on the published paper, however, is not relevant for agreement eligibility.
With this agreement, authors have a choice between a commercial (CC BY) or non-commercial (CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY-NC) license. The license choice is dependent on the journal selected. Please refer to the journal's homepage for specific details.
The following article types are part of this agreement:
Case reports
Data in Briefs
Full-length articles
Micro-articles
Original software publication
Practice guidelines
Protocols
Registered report articles
Registered report protocols
Review articles
Replication studies
Short communications
Short surveys
Video articles
Please note the following about article types accepted by Lancet journals:
Lancet fully OA journals: Full Length Articles (FLA) and Review Articles (REV)
Lancet hybrid journals: Full Length Articles (FLA)