Cambridge University Press Open Access Agreement

The Chester Fritz Library is happy to announce that, as of January 1, UND has entered a transformative open access agreement with Cambridge University Press (CUP), our first such agreement with a journal publisher. Transformative agreements generally leverage the cost of journal subscriptions and article processing fees to support the publisher’s transformation towards an open access model. In short, this agreement will allow UND authors to publish gold open access (i.e., published research is immediately available without a subscription) in Cambridge journals at no additional charge. Furthermore, we receive unlimited access to CUP’s complete journal package of nearly 400 titles, all for a little more cost than we previously paid for subscribing to their journals. 

Why might it be worth publishing open access with CUP? Gold open access articles are cited three times more than subscription articles within the first year of their publication. Additionally, publishing open access is aligned with future requirements for federally funded research. Starting December 31, 2025, taxpayer supported research publications and data need to be available immediately open access. Publishers typically charge an individual fee to make each article open access, so this transformative agreement allows authors to take advantage of the benefits of open access publishing without having to pay to publish.

If this initiative helps more UND affiliates publish open access, we can look into transformative agreements with additional publishers. If you would like more information about this agreement with CUP, contact Laura Egan, Head of Collection Strategies.