The American Chemical Society (ACS) has signed a “read and publish” agreement with IReL, a consortium of Irish universities, which allows researchers to make their articles that are published in an ACS journal open access with no extra cost.
Open access invitations are subject to approval by the universities, and staff and students will continue to have access to ACS’s journals.
The agreement will apply to articles published in an ACS journal between January 1st of this year and December 31st, 2025.
“Read and publish” agreements cover both subscription and article processing charge payments.
In a press statement, IReL Manager Jack Hyland said: “The read and publish model means that overnight, open access becomes the default option offered to hundreds of Irish researchers publishing with ACS, and its author workflows will make this as easy and frictionless as possible for them.”
IReL is an e-resource licensing consortium for Irish publicly funded higher education institutions. Trinity, Dublin City University, TU Dublin, University College Dublin, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Maynooth University, NUI Galway, University College Cork and the University of Limerick are all members. It is managed by Maynooth University.
In a press statement, James Milne the president of the American Chemical Society’s publications division said: “The Irish institutions that are part of IReL are performing incredible research, and I’m looking forward to the ways that this agreement will make it easier for them to share their research articles with the global chemistry community.”
“Read and publish agreements such as these are one aspect of ACS’ commitment to open access. Through transformative agreements, open access journals, unique products like SciMeetings and more, ACS is continually working to advance open access around the world.”
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C, and Columbus, Ohio. It provides access to chemistry-related research through journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical, Chemical & Engineering News.
Jim Baldini, the vice president of global sales, business operations and analytics for the society’s publications, said: “This is yet another great example of collaboration and transformation, bringing publishers and universities together to accelerate open access while keeping the researchers’ needs top of mind.”
“This program expands access globally to Ireland’s important research articles, provides ease and efficiencies in processing, meets funder requirements and allows continued readership access to ACS’ 775,000+ articles in a single solution.”
IReL has already made 15 open-access agreements for its members since 2020.
