Library Research News: March Edition
In this issue
- Latest update on CAUL major publisher negotiations
- Hot tip: Where Should I Publish
- What’s new in scholarly communication?
- Event roundup
Latest update on CAUL major publisher negotiations
Negotiated by the Council of Australasian University Librarians (CAUL), Australian and New Zealand universities have reached new Read & Publish agreements with Elsevier, Wiley, Springer Nature, and Taylor & Francis securing improved open access publishing conditions and more sustainable costs for the sector. The agreements mark a significant step towards fairer, more transparent access to research across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
CAUL entered negotiations in response to rapidly rising subscription and publishing costs, alongside long-standing inequities and limited access to publicly funded research. Academic voices have strongly supported libraries taking a leading role in these negotiations, with recent commentary, Librarians versus the world from the Research Whisperer, highlighting the importance of collective action to protect researchers’ abilities to read, publish and share their work openly.
Under the new agreements, corresponding authors at Deakin can benefit from more open access publishing:
Elsevier: now includes uncapped publishing in hybrid titles, including Cell Press and Lancet titles
Springer Nature: now includes uncapped publishing in both hybrid and gold titles.
Taylor & Francis: now includes uncapped publishing in both hybrid and gold titles.
Wiley: now includes uncapped publishing in hybrid titles with a cap for gold titles. If the cap is reached, authors receive a 20% discount on APCs.
For more information on Deakin’s Read & Publish agreements, check out the Publishing and open access guide, or check for included titles using Where Should I Publish.
Everything you’ve always wanted to know about open access
Welcome back. This month, we are going to talk about what Read & Publish agreements are.
Read & Publish agreements are when libraries pay a flat fee to cover both subscription access to journal content and the open access publication costs for their authors. Deakin Library participates in Read & Publish agreements negotiated by the Council of Australasian University Librarians (CAUL) consortium, which means corresponding authors at Deakin don’t have to pay open access article processing charges (APCs) in the included journals. Some agreements only include journals where open access is optional (hybrid journals), and some also include journals where all articles are open access (fully open access or gold journals).
So how do you use them?
Read & Publish agreements are applied automatically when your article is accepted in an included journal. It’s important to note the following:
- Check to see if your chosen journal is included:
- Search for the journal in Where Should I Publish, and check the Read & Publish agreement field, or
- Search the 2026 Title List published by CAUL. Be aware Deakin doesn’t participate in every CAUL agreement. If you search this list, make sure you check for Deakin in the Eligible Institutions field.
- Check that your article is an eligible type. Most types of research articles are eligible, but editorials, notes, book reviews etc. are often not included. Check the eligible article list on CAUL’s guide for the specific publisher.
- Use your Deakin email address and Deakin affiliation.
- When prompted, select Deakin University as your institution/organisation.
- Be aware that some publishers charge additional fees, such as page or colour charges. These fees are not covered by the Read & Publish agreement.
Deakin corresponding authors are also eligible for APC discounts from some publishers, which provide a percentage discount to the journal’s article processing charge (APC). When available, these are usually applied automatically based on your Deakin email address and affiliation.
Why Open matters: Deakin Library’s Open Research Position Statement
At Deakin, we believe open research fosters an environment of transparency, inclusivity and innovation. By making research publicly available wherever possible, we dismantle barriers to knowledge and drive positive societal impact.
In 2025 Deakin University’s Academic Board approved Deakin Library’s Open Research Position Statement, which includes four foundational principles of open research and six institutional commitments. Additionally, the University-wide Open Access Taskforce recommended that Deakin University develop a formalised open access policy. Work to develop an OA policy is currently underway.
Open access is also encouraged through the Research Publication and Dissemination Procedure and the Research Repository Procedure.
If you want to learn more about publishing and open access at Deakin, check out our LibGuide.
Hot tip: Where Should I Publish
We’re excited to announce updates to Where Should I Publish, helping you find relevant, high-quality, and open access journals for your research easier and faster.
With this tool, you can:
- Search a huge collection of scholarly journals
- Use multiple filters to refine the results using your preferred criteria
- Easily locate open access journals that are free to publish in, highly ranked and relevant to your field of research.
Our goal with Where Should I Publish is to support informed decision making about where to publish, including open access publishing as a priority in alignment with Deakin’s Open Research Position Statement.
Want to read more about what has changed with the tool? Check out this article, Updates to Where Should I Publish: your go-to resource for journal information.
What’s new in scholarly communication?
If you are interested in some further reading, check out these articles:
University journal publishers – global, messy and underestimated
How Two Canadian Organizations Created a National Model for Diamond Open Access
Guest Post – The Next Era of Reference Management: An Interview with William Gunn
SEO Still Matters: Building Blocks for the Future of Content Discoverability
The importance of inclusive and balanced collections in libraries and archives
Event roundup
Research Supervision and Generative AI
Tuesday 31 March, online, 1:00–4:00pm
What does a prompt cost? AI and sustainability
Thursday, 16 April, online, 10:00–10:45am
Details for all upcoming library events will be made available on the Library events page.
Library Research News is a regular publication from the library, publishing library-related news for Deakin researchers. To stay in the loop, please subscribe to Article.
To access library research services, please contact your librarian or navigate to Research via the library website. Scholarly Services Librarians bring discipline-specific expertise related to the following key areas:
- expert searching
- research data management
- Copyright for research
- publishing and open access
- research outputs stewardship
- research metrics.