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Open Access Membership

Open Access Membership

Our Open Access Membership helps institutions to support researchers who are mandated to publish their research using the open access model. We offer a customised approach to each membership and a commitment to transparent pricing. We will continue to offer this option alongside our Read & Publish agreements.  

The payment process is straightforward and manageable with reporting to help you keep track of your funds. Your researchers will receive up to 25% discount on article processing charges, making research grants and institutional open access funds stretch further. You’ll receive detailed reports on who from your institution is publishing with us. We’re committed to helping institutions publish as much as they can. 

Each member institution pays an annual fee based on the number of open access articles it published in the Royal Society’s journals during the previous year. Authors affiliated to member institutions then receive a 25% discount on the article processing charge for publishing in any of our journals. This allows your institution to support open access publishing, and enables authors to publish at a substantially discounted rate. 

We are committed to supporting open access, and offer institutions and authors a high level of flexibility to accommodate individual needs and requirements.

Open access agreements

Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL)

Authors at Max Planck institutions can now publish in all Royal Society journals at no cost through a new Publish and Read agreement with Max Planck Digital Library.  

Technische Informationsbibliothek (TiB)

From 1 January 2020 authors submitting to our journals from eligible institutions from Technische Informationsbibliothek (TiB) in Germany will receive a discount on their APC.

All Read & Publish agreements can be found here. Check to see if your institution is listed.

Open access members

Check your institutional link for your eligibility criteria.

TU Graz Austria Standard
University of Lethbridge Canada  Standard 
University of Turku
Finland  Standard
EMBL Germany   Standard
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) Germany   Standard
Israel Technion Israel Standard
American University of Beirut Lebanon Standard
Groningen University (RuG) and Groningen University Medical Centre (UMCG)
Netherlands Standard
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO) - KNAW
Netherlands  Standard 
VU University Amsterdam
Netherlands Standard 
Wageningen University & Research
Netherlands Standard 
Oslo University Norway  Standard
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Sweden  Standard
University of Basel Switzerland  Standard
University of Geneva Switzerland Standard
Aston University
United Kingdom Standard
Brunel University United Kingdom Standard
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
United Kingdom Standard 
Manchester Metropolitan University United Kingdom Standard
Natural History Museum United Kingdom Standard
Scottish Association of Marine Sciences
United Kingdom Standard 

University of the West of England (UWE Bristol)

United Kingdom Standard
University of Glasgow United Kingdom Standard
Queen Mary University of London United Kingdom Standard
Wellcome Sanger
United Kingdom Standard
MIT Libraries  United States of America   Standard 
University of Massachusetts Amherst United States of America   Standard 
Penn State University United States of America Standard
Smithsonian Institution
United States of America Standard 
Tufts University United States of America   Standard
University of Idaho
 United States of America   Standard 
Utah State University United States of America Standard
Virginia Tech University United States of America   Standard 

The Royal Society is a member of OASPA, the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association.

Find out more information on how to submit an article and about publishing open access with us.

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