IOP Journals Open Access Publishing: Information for Authors

What is OhioLINK?

OhioLINK, part of the Ohio Department of Higher Education, is Ohio’s academic library consortium. Easy, fast access to a vast amount of scholarly material has made Ohio’s higher ed library system the envy of academics across the country and OhioLINK one of the most respected library consortia.

If you are looking for an article or book, chances are that you can get it through OhioLINK. OhioLINK cost-effectively acquires and maintains shared electronic library resources for its members--more than 37 million digital journal articles, more than 241,000 electronic books, and more than 100 databases. It also funds and manages Ohio’s inter-library loan program from a shared catalog of 38 million books and printed items.

In 2022, OhioLINK negotiated three transformative agreements with Wiley, Cambridge University Press, and the Institute of Physics publishers that allow authors to publish open access at no cost to the authors or additional cost to their institutions.  These agreements also expanded access for Ohio researchers to read articles in journals from these publishers. OhioLINK has created similar information pages for authors interested in publishing in Wiley journals and Cambridge journals.

Your institution’s library would be happy to provide more information about what is available to you.

What is the OhioLINK Institute of Physics journals upgrade?

OhioLINK's new upgrade agreement with Institute of Physics (IOP) offers two major benefits for students and faculty at institutions of higher education in Ohio.  First, it increases access to important published research from all 70+ Institute of Physics journals for libraries statewide in physics, materials science, biosciences, astronomy and astrophysics, environmental sciences, and mathematics.  Second, authors from participating OhioLINK institutions can publish their articles as open access in all eligible IOP journals, without any limit and at no cost to the author and at no additional cost to any institution.

What is open access publishing?

Open access (OA) is a way to publish that makes content freely available to read with no subscription or access fees, as well as licensing the work to allow for reuse.  OhioLINK's agreement with IOP applies to articles in either fully open access journals (in which all articles are open access, so there is never a subscription fee for the journal) or hybrid open access journals (in which authors have the option to publish as open access, so that the journal has some open access articles and some subscription access articles). IOP uses the term "transformative agreements" to refer to its agreements that allow for open access publishing. Articles published as open access under this agreement will use a CC-BY 4.0 license.

While some open access publishing models (such as "gold open access") can involve an Article Publication Charge (APC) to be paid by the author, OhioLINK's agreement with IOP ensures that eligible corresponding authors can publish their articles with no APC charge.

For more information about open access:

Who is eligible to publish open access?

In order to be eligible to publish open access at no cost in an IOP journal under this deal, the corresponding author of the article (see below for definition) must be affiliated with an institution that participates in OhioLINK’s Electronic Journal Center (EJC), a full-text, searchable database of electronic journal articles from top scholarly publishers. There is no limit on the number times an author can request open access funding under this agreement.

To find out if your institution participates, please contact your institution’s library.

What is a corresponding author? How is their affiliation identified?

The corresponding author is the author who submits the manuscript and is responsible for communicating with the journal during the submission, peer review, and publication process.

Eligibility for open access publishing under OhioLINK's agreement with IOP (IOP calls this a "transformative agreement") is based on the corresponding author's affiliation at the time of acceptance.  You can find more information on corresponding authors and their roles and responsibilities when publishing an article with IOP here.

When can I publish open access articles in IOP journals?

Access to no-APC open access publishing begins on January 1, 2023, and continues through December 31, 2025. This means that to publish an article as open access without paying any Article Publication Charge (APC), the article to be published must be accepted for publication after January 1, 2023, and on or before December 31, 2025.

Which journals are eligible for open access publishing under this deal?

OhioLINK's agreement with Institute of Physics allows for original research and review articles to be published as open access in all journals that participate in IOP's transformative agreements, including most of its fully open access and hybrid open access journals (lists A, B, C, and D on the linked page).

    How does an author publish an article as open access?

    When a corresponding author submits their article with an IOP journal, they are asked to identify their institution affiliation. If they are affiliated with a participating OhioLINK member institution, IOP identifies them as eligible for open access publishing under this agreement and sends the Corresponding Author an email. 

    Corresponding authors will be contacted by IOP to confirm that they would like to publish their article as open access near the time of acceptance. Authors may choose to opt out and instead publish their articles behind a paywall.  There is no cost to the author (or to their institution) to publish their article as open access under this agreement.

    Articles published as open access under this agreement will use a CC-BY 4.0 license.

    What information and training is available for faculty and authors?

    Institute of Physics offers several resources for authors interested in publishing their articles open access:

    Recorded informational webinar for authors:

    Join IOP Publishing representatives to learn more about IOP’s portfolio and subject coverage, the steps to submit articles for open access publication, how faculty should identify their institution affiliation so that they are identified as eligible based on their OhioLINK institution affiliation, and benefits of the new agreement.

    Other IOP information for authors include:

    Where can I go with questions?

    Your library is the best resource to answer questions about resources available to you.  Find your library's contact information here. 

    IOP can also answer questions directly about open access publishing in their journals at their email address for open access questions.

    For more information about open access publishing opportunities available through OhioLINK, see OhioLINK's web page about open access publishing for authors.

    Updated February 1, 2024