UK universities have struck a four-year ¡°read-and-publish¡± deal with the US-based publisher Wiley.

Under the new deal, which was unveiled on 2 March, UK-based corresponding authors will be given the option to publish open access in Wiley at no extra cost to them.

It will mean that some 85 per cent of articles from UK researchers will be published open access in its first year, up from its current rate of 27 per cent, with the potential to increase to 100 per cent by 2022, according to Jisc, which negotiates licences and digital content agreements on behalf of UK universities.

According to Liam Earney, executive director for digital resources at Jisc, the new deal with Wiley ¨C which owns about 1,600 academic journals ¨C represents a ¡°step-change¡± in the transition to open access, in which universities pay publishers based on the number of articles published ¨C the so-called ¡°publish and read¡± model ¨C rather than paying subscriptions for access.

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¡°This agreement offers all universities within the consortium, regardless of how much or little they publish, an opportunity to rapidly transition toward full and immediate open access in a financially sustainable way,¡± said Mr Earney, who said that it would enable ¡°all universities to access more Wiley content than before¡±.?

Judy Verses, executive vice-president of Wiley Research, said that the new deal would ¡°further accelerate open access in the UK¡±, adding?that the publisher had been ¡°proud to have supported an open access model with Jisc over the past five years in the UK.¡±

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The agreement, which will be made publicly available at the end of the month, begins in March 2020. All participating Jisc member institutions and affiliated researchers are eligible.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com