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Open Access Publishing Support

A guide to OA publishing options

Microbiology Society Open Access Publishing Agreement

Microbiology Society Publish and Read Agreement

The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) libraries have reached a three-year Publish and Read Agreement with the Microbiology Society, one more step in collective action toward the Big Collection. This agreement begins on January 1, 2023 and runs through December 31, 2025. Under this agreement, Indiana University Bloomington authors can publish open access at no charge.

Journal Access

The agreement includes access to the entire archive of Society content, back to 1947, for reading and for text and data mining.

Open Access Publishing Opportunities 

Browse through the Society's concise journals collection and look through the individual scopes to find out which journal is perfect for you and your colleagues, and begin your author journey by submitting fee-free. 

Eligible dates

To qualify for no-cost OA publication, the article must be accepted between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025 and have a responsible corresponding author from a participating BTAA institution.

Authors must identify themselves as affiliated with a participating BTAA institution and use their institutional email address as part of the publishing workflow. Articles published in Society journals where the responsible corresponding author is from a participating BTAA institution will be OA by default.

FAQ 

I’m a corresponding author at a BTAA institution. What must I do to publish Open Access at no cost to me under this agreement?

The Microbiology Society checks corresponding author eligibility as part of the submission and publication process using email domain names. Submit your manuscript to a Society journal using your institutional email address and include your institutional affiliation.

Eligible institutional domains for each BTAA institution are listed on the Society’s Fee-free OA webpage. Additional prefixes after '@' denoting sub-domains, e.g., name@xxxx.osu.edu will be accepted. Corresponding authors will indicate the Publish and Read route for Open Access during the submission process. Select "Yes" for the "Are you eligible for fee-free Open Access via a Publish and Read agreement?" and "Do you wish to publish Open Access?" questions. Once the article has been accepted, APCs are covered by the agreement and your article will be published Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) at no cost to you.

This agreement currently only allows a CC-BY license to be selected. This is a very liberal license that allows wide re-use rights, including for commercial purposes, as long as the user gives attribution. Anyone can freely, read, adapt, and reuse your article, in any format including anthologies, textbooks etc., and for any purpose including commercial resale. Publishers may also enrich your article by linking out to other related articles, even those you have not cited. Other than attribution, there are no additional restrictions. However, the Microbiology Society's rights and permissions page states that authors may request a CC-BY-NC license. If you are concerned about commercial reuse of your work, please request a CC-BY-NC license.

 

 

Is there any limit on the number of articles that may be published Open Access under this agreement?

No, there is no limit to the number of articles that may be published OA under this agreement.

Which Microbiology Society journals are eligible for no-cost OA publication under this agreement?

All six of the Society’s journals, including hybrid titles Journal of General Virology, Journal of Medical Microbiology, and International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, and fully OA titles Access Microbiology, Microbial Genomics, and Microbiology are eligible for no-cost OA publication under this agreement.

Fully Open Access:                        Hybrid:

Microbial Genomics                            Journal of General Virology

Access Microbiology                          Journal of Medical Microbiology

Microbiology                                      International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology

Is my article eligible?

Eligible publications have a responsible corresponding author from a BTAA institution and are accepted for publication between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025. All publication types are eligible under this agreement.

 

Is there anything more I need to do if my work is made Open Access through this agreement?

It depends! If you or any of your co-authors have funding from the US federal government or one of many other funders, you may have a requirement to share your article in a specific location.

Please ensure you follow your funder requirements to avoid jeopardizing future funding.