Cal Poly authors can receive Open Access publishing fee waivers for publishing their papers under "transformative agreements", in which the subscription access model is gradually transitioned to institutional support for fully Open Access publications. Libraries enter into these agreements with publishers either as a campus or as part of a consortium, so applicable agreements can vary across CSU campuses. Transformative agreements active at Cal Poly, SLO are listed below.
Contact Danielle Daugherty with questions on the submission process.
CSU-Elsevier
The current CSU-Elsevier Transformative Read and Publish agreement ends December 31, 2024. Negotiations are in progress with the intention to renew this arrangement, subject to the agreement of all parties. In order to qualify for an APC waiver, articles must meet the following conditions:
- The corresponding author must be employed by the CSU
- The article must be accepted for publication into one of the included journals. Use this journal search tool to see if your journal is included
- Articles must be accepted between 1 January 2022 and December 31, 2024
- Approval is mediated by the University Library. You will be notified by email that your request to publish open access has been approved
CSU-American Chemical Society
The current CSU-American Chemical Society transformative read and publish agreement ends December 31, 2025. In order to qualify for an APC waiver, articles must meet the following conditions:
- The corresponding author must be employed by the CSU
- Includes 60+ hybrid journals published by ACS
- If the author has received grant funding towards publication, this funding must be exhausted before requesting funding support from this agreement
- Articles must be accepted between 1 January 2022 and December 31, 2025
- Approval is mediated by the University Library. You will be notified by email that your request to publish open access has been approved
CSU-Association for Computing Machinery
The current Association for Computing Machinery agreement ends October 31, 2026, though this may be affected by ACM's plans to transition to full open access in December, 2025.
- All corresponding authors from Cal Poly may publish an unlimited number of accepted research articles in these publications.
- Eligible authors are identified by their campus email domain.
- All ACM conferences, journals, and magazines, for which ACM manages production and rights, are eligible. See site for a list and exceptions.
SCELC-IOP Publishing
In 2025, Cal Poly authors can have the cost of the open access publishing option waived in 76 journals under a read-and-publish agreement between our consortium and IOP Publishing, a society owned scientific publisher. The agreement must be re-negotiated for subsequent years, but we anticipate that it will continue.
- A list of journals and other details are available in Information for authors. Exclusions listed under Agreement Terms.
- Eligibility will be determined automatically in the submission process, and requires that the corresponding author is a current staff member, researcher (permanent, temporary and/or visiting) or student at Cal Poly at the time of submission.
Cal Poly-American Society for Microbiology
In 2025, ASM will operate under a new Subscribe to Open subscription model for its six primary research subscription-based journals.
- Article Processing Charges (APCs) are waived for Cal Poly authors for an unlimited number of articles. Page charges and supplemental material fees will still apply; discounts are available to Cal Poly authors.
- ASM uses institutional affiliation information provided when submitting a manuscript to identify eligible authors.
- Cal Poly authors' articles will remain open access in perpetuity.
Cal Poly- American Physiological Society
In 2025, APS will adopt a Subscribe to Open model for its 10 primary research journals.
- Articles will automatically be published under a Creative Commons license with no Article Processing Charge if a Cal Poly affiliate is first, last, or corresponding author on the accepted manuscript. Cal Poly authors may be asked to provide Cal Poly's ROR ID in the submission process.
