University Library of Bern UB

Read and Publish

Wiley

Media release, 26.08.2022:

Wiley: 2022 article quota for free open access publishing will soon be reached

Since mid-2021, a Read and Publish deal with Wiley allowed members of the University of Bern, PH Bern and the Hospitals Insel and Tiefenau from the Insel Group to publish their articles in Wiley hybrid open access journals without incurring any costs of their own. As part of this deal, which was brokered by swissuniversities, the publisher set an upper limit on the number of articles that are covered per year. Since the researchers of the participating institutions published a lot, the agreed article quota will probably be exhausted by the end of September 2022.

Cost neutrality not possible

The costs of the Read and Publish contract for the University of Bern are financed by the University Library of Bern. From the perspective of the national Open Access strategy of swissuniversities, an additional incurrence of publication costs would mean that the requirement of cost neutrality cannot be achieved. The University Library of Bern has therefore decided not to pay any additional amounts to the already existing Read and Publish contract to Wiley.

Publish without additional costs until the end of 2022

For members of the University of Bern and its affiliated institutions, this means that until the end of 2022, they will have to cover the costs for publishing in Open Access in Wiley hybrid journals themselves. For those who wish to continue publishing articles in open access, the following options are available:

  • Publication in Open Access in hybrid journals at Wiley: APCs must be paid from funds to be acquired by the authors themselves.
  • Publication in Open Access in a pure Open Access journal: APCs might be covered by the publication fund of the University Library of Bern. Contact the Open Access team of the University Library. Information can be found here.
  • Publication in Open Access Green (self-archiving): the accepted manuscript can usually be made available in Open Access in a repository (e.g. BORIS) after an embargo period (often 12 months) after publication.
  • Publication in closed access at Wiley: No additional costs are incurred, as these are covered as part of the subscription. The article will not be published in open access.

The open access agreement with Wiley has not ended. As of January 1, 2023, it will again be possible to publish for free within the Read and Publish agreement.

Further information:

  • On the Read and Publish agreement with Wiley can be found here.
  • On Open Access in general is here, or contact the Open Access Team: openaccess@ub.unibe.ch