The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has established transformative publishing agreements with two organizations. IEEE announced its agreement with the University of Illinois on May 13, 2020. In addition, a new agreement between the university and the Microbiology Society went into effect earlier this year.
The three-year Open Access Read and Publish agreement with IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization for engineering, computing, and technology information around the globe, is the first such agreement for the University of Illinois with a major publisher. Both the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UI) and Chicago (UIC) campuses are part of the IEEE content agreement. Researchers at both campuses will have access to the IEEE Xplore Digital Library and U of I authors will publish articles via open access in nearly 200 journals and magazines published by IEEE.
“The University of Illinois Libraries are pleased to be a part of this agreement with IEEE,” said UIC University Librarian Mary Case together with UI University Librarian John Wilkin. “We have long been committed to the transformation of the scholarly publishing system and see this as an important new model in making the research of our faculty openly and broadly available.”
William Mischo, head of the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center, added, “This agreement will allow the groundbreaking research, educational activities, and innovation generated by the University of Illinois faculty to be open upon publication to the State of Illinois and to the world.”
Large monetary contributions from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), the Grainger College of Engineering, the Office of the Provost at Illinois, and the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center technology endowment went toward the agreement with IEEE.
More information about the university’s agreement with IEEE is located at www.ieee.org/about/news/2020/ieee-university-of-illinois-open-access-agreement.html.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign transitioned its agreement with the Microbiology Society into a new Publish and Read model. Under the agreement, authors at Illinois can publish articles accepted to any Microbiology Society journal as fee-free open access publications. Those at Illinois will also have unlimited access to the entire Society portfolio of journals, including Microbiology and Journal of General Virology; the agreement is an alternative to those and the Society’s other subscriptions and Article Processing Charges (APCs).
“Facilitating open access to further the sharing of scientific information, particularly from such a long-standing and prestigious society is a huge success,” said Biosciences Librarian Kelli Trei. “I hope for many more agreements of this kind to further the dissemination of groundbreaking research.”
About IEEE
IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics. For more information about the IEEE, visit ieee.org.
About The Microbiology Society
The Microbiology Society is a membership charity for scientists interested in microbes, their effects and their practical uses. It is one of the largest microbiology societies in Europe with a worldwide membership based in universities, industry, hospitals, research institutes and schools. For more information about the Microbiology Society, visit microbiologyresearch.org/.