What is a Transformative Agreement?
A transformative agreement is a contract that tries to shift the payment from a library (or group of libraries) to a publisher. In a nutshell, transformative agreements are a shift away from pay to read (subscription cost) toward pay to publish (article processing charge). In some cases, transformative agreements are a way for publishers to transition their traditional subscription journals to fully open access.
Principles of transformative agreements usually include items related to copyright ownership and transparency:
Transformative agreements are usually described as "Read and Publish" or "Publish and Read".
A Read and Publish agreement is where a publisher receives payment for reading and payment for publishing bundled into the same contract. This bundling brings payment for publishing into a contractual arrangement rather than being addressed by each individual author who is choosing to publish open access. These agreements redirect funds previously spent on a subscription cost to a publishing cost.
A Publish and Read agreement is an agreement in which the publisher receives payment only for publishing, and reading is included for no additional cost.
Additional information about Transformative Agreements can be found here: https://esac-initiative.org/about/transformative-agreements/
USD Libraries' Participation in Open Access Publishing is Guided by the Following Values:
The University Libraries has opted into Read & Publish agreements with the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), Cambridge University Press (CUP), IOP Science, and Springer Nature. The University Libraries also participates in SCOAP3, which advances open access publishing in the field of High-Energy Physics.
USD Libraries continues to evaluate Read & Publish agreement opportunities and opt in when the opportunities align with the above values, can be accomplished at nominal costs and thus be sustained, and leverage the power of consortiums and cooperative purchasing among libraries.
USD Libraries has agreements (transformative or similar) that reduce or eliminate author fees with the following publishers/journals.
For more information regarding transformative or similar agreements, please contact David Alexander david.alexander@usd.edu