Authors who want to publish an article in an open access journal or publish in a standard subscription journal as an open access article, typically need to pay an "article processing charge" (APC) in order to cover the cost of publishing by the publisher. Duke University Libraries, including the Medical Center Library & Archives, now have a "Read and Publish" agreement, also known as a "transformative agreement," with Cambridge University Press(CUP) so Duke researchers can publish articles open access at no cost in specific journals covered by this agreement. In addition, users will have access to CUP's journal content. To find out what CUP journals fall under this agreement, use CUP’s checker tool and enter Duke University School of Medicine.
To be eligible, your article must:
- Have a corresponding author affiliated with Duke University. Authors must use their @duke.edu email address to qualify for the APC waiver.
- Be original research – eligible article types include research articles, review articles, rapid communications, brief reports and case reports.
- Be accepted for publication in a Cambridge University Press journal covered by the agreement.
- Be accepted for publication from January 1, 2022.
Highlights of the Process
- Submit your research using your institutional affiliation (ideally using ORCID). Please note that eligibility is based on the corresponding author's affiliation.
- Upon acceptance, choose the Gold Open Access option in your author publishing agreement form and select a creative commons license.
Transformative agreements work to shift the publishing model from one that is based on library subscriptions requiring payment to read articcles (but publishing is free) - to one that allows everyone to read for free but the cost of publishing is covered. Open access publishing allows the authors' work to be more visible with potential for increased viewership, reach, and possibly even greater citations. An added benefit is that authors retain their copyright allowing them to freely share and adapt their articles.
Please note that Duke also has an agreement with BMJ to cover the costs of article processing charges for BMJ Case Reports and BMJ Open Quality. Please refer to our Where to Publish Web page for details.
For additional details, see How to Publish Open Access Under this Agreement. If you have any questions about the agreement or the process of open access publishing, please Ask a Librarian.