APC (article processing charge) is usually charged to authors to make an article available open access either in a gold open access or in a hybrid open access journal. There are also open access journals which do not charge APCs. Find out if your faculty, discipline or project has funds for APCs. Also, take into account the possible APCs in your financing application.
As a part of the FinElib consortium Turku university researchers are eligible for either free open access publishing or for discounts on APCs in specific journals. In addition, University of Turku is part of the international SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics) consortium, which allows researchers to publish free of charge in the consortium journals. The university also has agreements with some publishers, which enable open access publishing without extra costs. In addition to this Turku university library has some Subscribe to Open journals. To be entitled to publish open access without extra costs or with a discounted price, the author's affiliation should be University of Turku or Turku University Hospital in the published article.
If publisher agrees on parallel publishing it is a possibility to make your research open without charges. More information https://utuguides.fi/utucris/en/selfarchiving.
Open access publishing after the turn of the year 2024-2025
Part of FinELib’s negotations on scientific journal agremeents with open access benefits are still ongoing.
If new agreements are not finished before the end of the year it is possible that free open access publishing may be put on hold Jan 1, 2025. More detailed information on whether retrospective open access publishing will be possible later will come available when negotiations proceed or at the latest when they are finished.
FinELib's announcement on the state of the negotiations: Open Access Publishing After the Turn of the Year
With questions, please contact openutu@utu.fi.
Below you will find detailed guidelines for publisher-specific policies. Below each publisher, there is a link to more detailed instructions and additional information, which includes lists of journals included in the agreement and information about article types that are covered by agreement.
The Read & Publish agreement negotiated between FinELib and ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) enables free open access publishing in ACM's journals, magazines, and conference proceedings. Researchers do not need to pay an author fee (Open Access Charge, Article Processing Charge), as the costs of open access publishing are included in the agreement.
Negotiations for the agreement covering the years 2025–2027 are ongoing, but open access publishing for articles accepted starting January 1, 2025, will continue as usual according to the instructions provided in the link below. However, if you receive an APC invoice for an article accepted in 2025, it should not be paid.
Instructions on open access publishing in ACM journals.
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
The University of Turku has a direct agreement with the publisher, granting unlimited publishing rights for the year 2025.
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY
Unlimited open access publishing rights apply to these six fully open S2O (Subscribe to Open) journals:
Publishing involves additional fees, for which authors may receive a discount by becoming a member through this link: https://asm.org/Membership#!
The library has entered into an agreement with BMJ Publishing Group for the years 2025–2026, which includes the opportunity to publish articles openly without author fees in the publisher's hybrid journals. Depending on the journal, the license options include either CC BY or CC BY-NC.
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
The FinELib agreement for 2025 covers additional cost-free and unlimited open access publishing in CUP's Full OA and hybrid journals.
Further information on FinELib page
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages
Tool to find out if the journal is included in UTU agreement
Turku university library has made an agreement with Cogitatio Press which offers authors an opportunity to publish their articles open access without article processing charges. The agreement term is valid until 31 December 2025.
List of Cogitatio Press journals:
Media and Communication (ISSN 2183-2439)
Ocean and Society
Politics and Governance (ISSN 2183-2463)
Social Inclusion (ISSN 2183-2803)
Urban Planning (ISSN 2183-7635)
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
The library has negotiated an agreement with the Company of Biologists for the University of Turku, valid until the end of 2027. The agreement includes cost-free open access publishing rights for corresponding authors affiliated with the University of Turku in five journals: Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms, and Biology Open. The publishing rights are unlimited.
When submitting the article, the author must indicate utu email address in the publisher's system and choose University of Turku as home organization. When the article is accepted, the author returns the publication agreement and receives by email a link to the RightsLink system, which provides the information for the article. A similar link is also sent to the library, where free open access publishing of the article is approved.
Instructions on open access publishing in CUP journals on publisher's pages.
Under the agreement between FinELib and Elsevier, corresponding authors can publish open access articles without an APC (article processing charge) in eligible Elsevier hybrid journals and hybrid journals that have transitioned to gold open access. There is a limited number of free open access articles available during the agreement period 2024-2025. The agreement also contains 15 % discount of APCs in Elsevier's gold open access journals.
University also subscribes to some additional Elsevier journals that are not included in FinELib consortium agreement. For more information, contact library@utu.fi about publishing article open access without article processing charge (APC).
Instructions on open access publishing in Elsevier journals.
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
If you would like to handle the payment transactions for articles published in gold open access journals through the university's financial system, please include the billing details specified by the financial services with your APC request: the correct billing address and the appropriate payment reference. For further instructions, see this intranet page.
Under FinELib consortium’s agreement with Elsevier, corresponding authors can publish their articles open access without article processing charge (APC) in Cell Press hybrid journals eligible for the agreement.
There is a limited number of free open access articles available for the year 2025.
Instructions on open access publishing in Cell Press journals.
FinELib consortium’s agreement with Emerald offers authors an opportunity to publish their articles under the CC BY license with a free open access voucher. The agreement term is 2025 - 2026 and OA credits are limited in number.
Eligible articles by authors affiliated with the University of Turku that are accepted for publication in Emerald Premier journals at the beginning of 2025 can be covered retrospectively by the agreement, allowing paywalled articles to be converted to open access. APCs should no be paid in order to have them covered by FinELib agreement.
Instructions on open access publishing in Emerald journals.
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
The library has entered into an agreement with Taylor & Francis for 2024–2025, which includes cost-free open access publishing rights in the publisher's 17 hybrid journals and 16 fully open access journals. The publishing rights cover nearly all article types.
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
The FinELib consortium and IEEE agreement for the 2024–2025 period includes the right to publish articles openly without an APC (article processing charge).
Instructions on open access publishing in IEEE journals.
IEEE's own OA Guide for Authors.
The library has a direct agreement with the Institute of Physics for 2025–2027. The agreement grants unlimited publishing rights. For the list of journals, please contact openutu@utu.fi.
Unlimited open access publishing rights apply to these six fully open S2O (Subscribe to Open) journals:
As part of MDPI institutional open access program, University of Turku affiliated authors receive a 10 % discount on article processing charges (APCs) and on charges associated with open access book publishing with MDPI (BPCs).
Authors will also receive 15 % discount on Language Editing Services.
Instructions on open access publishing in MDPI journals on publisher's pages.
FinELib’s agreement with OUP allows authors from participating institutions to publish open access in OUP’s hybrid journals at no additional charge during the agreement period 2024-2025. The agreement also contains 15 % discount of APCs in OUP fully open access journals.
Instructions on open access publishing in OUP journals.
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
RADIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA
The agreement with Radiological Society of North America negotiated by Turku University Library continues until the end of 2025. The agreement contains the right for the corresponding author affiliated to University of Turku to publish Open Access free of charge in the journals Radiology, Radiology: Artificial Intelligence, Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging and Radiology: Imaging Cancer. The agreement covers also other possible service fees such as color-in-print.
Instructions on open access publishing in RSNA on publisher's pages.
FinELib consortium’s agreement with Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) enables the researchers to publish their articles open access at no additional charge in RCS’s Full OA and hybrid journals during the agreement term 2024–2025. Regarding Full OA journals the agreement only covers year 2024 for now.
Instructions on open access publishing in RSC journals.
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
Turku University Library has signed an agreement with Royal Society Publishing. Researcher gets a 25 % discount on APC when publishing in certain journal and when the submitting author is designated as the corresponding author. The agreement term is 1.4.2024—31.3.2025.
List of journals:
Biology Letters
Interface Focus
Journal of the Royal Society Interface
Notes and Records of the Royal Society
Open Biology
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Science
Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Royal Society Open Science
Information on oepn access publishing on publisher's pages.
The agreement between FinELib and SAGE for the years 2025-2026 contains the possibility for the researchers of the participating insitutions to publish their articles open access with a CC BY license
Instructions on open access publishing in SAGE journals.
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
The agreement between FinELib and AAAS for the years 2025-2026 enables self-archiving of the AAM version of the peer-reviewed research articles published in certain Science journals. The students and staff of University of Turku can self-archive AAMs with CC-BY licence without embargo in Turku University repository. The agreement also contains a 15 % discount of APC when publishing in full OA journal Science Advances.
Science journals that allow self-archiving of AAM version without embargo:
Science Online
Science Signaling
Science Translational Medicine
Science Immunology
Science Robotics
Instructions on open access publishing in the journal Science Advances.
The library will contribute to the costs for 2025–2027 to enable open access publishing of high-energy physics articles without author fees in SCOAP3 journals.
Further instructions for open access publishing in SCOAP3 journals
The library will also contribute to the costs in 2025 to enable the open access of new key textbooks and monographs in particle physics and related fields. Through this program, nearly 100 works have been made available so far.
FinELib consortium’s agreement with Springer Nature includes open access publishing in Springer's hybrid titles in Compact collection (see journals list) during the agreement term 1.1.2024–31.12.2025.
The corresponding author does not need to pay an APC (article processing charge). The charges are covered by the agreement.
Instructions on open access publishing in Springer Nature journals.
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
The agreement between the FinELib consortium and Springer Nature includes the right to publish articles openly in Nature Research hybrid titles (see journal list) during the contract period from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2026.
Instructions on open access publishing in Nature Research journals.
The FinELib agreement with Taylor & Francis for 2025–2026 covers open access publishing in over 2000 journals published by Taylor & Francis / Routledge.
The agreement covers all T&F Open Select journals (i.e., hybrid journals) in the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences (see the list of journals covered by the agreement below). The agreement does not cover other medical journals published by T&F, nor other fully open Full OA journals.
The agreement includes a limited number of articles that can be published open access.
For detailed instructions and the list of journals, please refer to the FinELib website.
Information on open access publishing on publisher's pages.
The FinELib consortium agreement with Wiley allows articles to be published open access in Wiley's full OA and hybrid journals during the 2025–2026 contract period.
A limited number of open access articles can be published.
Due to ongoing negotiations, articles published in early 2025 will be made open access retroactively.
For detailed instructions, please visit the FinELib website.
Information on open access publishing is available on the publisher's website.
Wiley's journal finder can be used to identify the appropriate journals.
According to the agreement between the FinELib consortium and the publisher, researchers can publish their articles open access under the CC BY license without an article processing charge (APC) during the contract period from December 31, 2024, to December 31, 2026. If the journal does not offer a CC BY license, the article can be published under the CC BY-NC or CC BY-NC-ND license.
A limited number of free open access articles are available annually.
For detailed instructions and the list of journals, please refer to the FinELib website.
Information on open access publishing is available on the publisher's website.
Publication services
