Open Access Publishing in 2025

Post by Dr Zachary Kendal (Scholarly Communications Specialist, Scholarly Services). 

In this post, we’ll explore options available to University of Melbourne authors for publishing their research open access, focusing on options that avoid author-facing fees. We will cover: 

• Publishing in open access venues that do not levy fees;
• Using the University’s open access publishing agreements;
• Exploring other open access initiatives and infrastructure.

But remember, if open access publishing isn’t an option for your article, paper, or book chapter, you may still be able to make a peer-reviewed manuscript open access at no cost. Sometimes called ‘Green’ open access, this involves depositing your research in an open access repository, such as our own Minerva Access. Find out more on our Repository Open Access page. 

1. Publishing in open access venues that do not levy fees 

When it comes to journal articles, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a quality-controlled index of over 21,000 fully open access journals. Although many large open access journals levy Article Processing Charges (APCs), almost 70% of the journals listed in DOAJ do not, being free for authors and readers alike. Sometimes called ‘Diamond OA’ journals, these tend to be financially supported by institutions, organisations, societies, or grants. 

The University of Melbourne also publishes or supports several scholar-led open access journals that do not levy fees to authors. And in 2025, the Library has also become a supporting member of the Open Library of Humanities, which publishes a growing portfolio of scholar-led Diamond OA journals, and SciPost, a community-based Diamond OA publisher in the physical sciences. 

There are a number of high-quality open access book publishers that have emerged over the years. Many of these publishers are also Diamond OA and do not levy Book Processing Charges (BPCs) for open access book publishing. Such publishers are typically supported by institutions and libraries via supporter memberships. This year, the Library has such supporting memberships with Open Book Publishers, Language Science Press, and Punctum Books. 

2. Using the University’s open access publishing agreements 

The University’s open access publishing agreements can help you to publish journal articles open access without facing APCs. Over 50% of journal articles with corresponding authors affiliating primarily with the University of Melbourne will be eligible for having open access APCs waived under our agreements this year. 

All 2024 agreements have been renewed for 2025, including agreements with Elsevier, Wiley, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Sage, Oxford University Press, and Cambridge University Press. We also have a new agreement with Canadian Science Publishing. 

Each publisher’s agreement has its own limitations and exclusions, some of which have changed in 2025, so please read agreement details carefully. Details of each agreement, including a new list of all covered journals, can be found on the Library’s Open Access Publishing page. 

Note that in most cases, articles are only eligible if the corresponding author’s primary affiliation (used in the publisher’s submission platform) is with the University of Melbourne. Whenever possible, authors should use an institutional email address (@unimelb.edu.au or @student.unimelb.edu.au), as this helps verify affiliation. 

Unfortunately, this agreement model is currently limited to journals. The only exceptions, at present, are the inclusion of conference proceedings in our agreements with ACM, and the coverage of book series in the agreement with the Geological Society. See the ‘Agreements by Publisher’ section of the above website for details. 

3. Exploring other open access initiatives and infrastructure 

Beyond the open access venues and agreements outlined above, there are a range of other open access and open research models, initiatives, and infrastructure to consider.  

One such initiative to look out for is the Subscribe to Open (S2O) publishing model, wherein a journal or publisher commits to making upcoming content open access at no cost to authors if their annual subscription targets are reached. The Library currently supports S2O initiatives from a range of journal publishers, including the American Society for Microbiology, Annual Reviews, Berghahn, De Gruyter, Mathematical Sciences Publishers, and Practical Action Publishing. Some book publishers have also adopted this kind of model, and the Library continues to support MIT Press’s Direct to Open initiative and JSTOR’s Path to Open pilot. 

Another noteworthy open research model gaining traction is what’s become known as the Publish-Review-Curate model. There are various ways to implement such a model, but it usually involves authors uploading (publishing) their paper to a preprint server, then submitting a link to the preprint to an organisation for open peer review. Once reviewed, the organisation will curate the work, which may involve writing an editorial review, validation, or recommendation. 

As well as supporting arXiv, a preprint platform that is used by researchers across the University, this year the Library is also supporting Peer Community In (PCI). PCI is a non-profit scientific organisation that creates and manages thematic communities of researchers. These communities peer review submissions that are made available via preprint servers, publishing recommendations of reviewed preprints. Once a preprint has been through the PCI review process, authors can publish for free in Peer Community Journal, submit to a PCI-friendly journal that takes the PCI review process into consideration, or submit the paper elsewhere to be reviewed anew.  

You can explore other open access initiatives supported by the University of Melbourne on our Open Access Publishing page. 

Interested to learn more, register for the upcoming Researcher@Library webinar exploring open access publishing in 2025. Wednesday 12 February 2024, 1:00-2:00PM. The session is open to all University of Melbourne academic staff, graduate researchers, and professional staff. Register here.

Enquiries 

For enquiries relating to open access publishing, please contact your discipline’s Faculty and Liaison Librarians.