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.
OhioLINK has negotiated five read and publish agreements for its institutions’ authors. These publishing agreements allow authors to publish open access at no cost to the authors or additional cost to their institutions, in addition to providing access to a broad range of high-quality research articles from these publishers. Please see open access publishing for authors page for additional information. Your institution’s library would be happy to provide more information about what is available to you.
What is OhioLINK's Elsevier open access agreement?
OhioLINK has negotiated an upgraded agreement that offers open access publishing benefits. Starting in January 2024 and continuing through the end of 2027, authors at participating OhioLINK member institutions now have the ability to publish open access (OA) journal articles in most of Elsevier’s hybrid journals at no additional cost to either the author or the institution. Some journals are excluded from open access publishing benefits, such as Cell Press and Lancet journals. You can search for eligible journals using Elsevier's journal finder tool for the OhioLINK agreement.
This open access publishing benefit is subject to availability. With this agreement, there is a maximum number of articles that may be published open access annually across all OhioLINK institutions. Once the limit is reached, the option to publish articles open access at no cost under the agreement will no longer be available. Authors may then choose to publish behind the paywall or to fund the APC for open access on their own.
What is Open Access? What does hybrid mean?
Open Access (OA) is a way to publish that makes content freely available with no subscription or access fees. Journal publishers were traditionally compensated for the editorial and distribution work of providing scholarly articles through journal subscription fees. In order to make articles open, publishers are compensated for their editorial and publishing services through an Article Publication Charge (APC), which varies by journal. OhioLINK's agreement with Elsevier gives member institutions and their authors tthe open access option without paying any additional fees. Open access publication often also includes licensing the work to allow for reuse, such as the use of Creative Commons licenses. (See more information about licenses on Elsevier's website.)
OhioLINK's open access agreement with Elsevier applies only to articles published in selected hybrid journals. "Hybrid" means that the journal publishes articles that are available both by subscription and through open access. Fully open access journal titles accept only articles that will be published as open access, and are not included under this agreement. You can search for eligible journals using Elsevier's journal finder tool for the OhioLINK agreement.
Who is eligible to publish open access under this agreement?
In order to be eligible to publish open access at no cost in a Elsevier journal under this deal, the corresponding author of the article (see below for definition) must be affiliated with an institution that subscribes to OhioLINK’s Electronic Journal Center (EJC), a full text searchable database of electronic journal articles from top scholarly publishers. You can find a list of eligible institutions at Elsevier's information page about the OhioLINK agreement.
There is a maximum number of articles across all OhioLINK institutions that may be published as open access each year under this agreement. Should this limit be reached, authors will no longer see the option to request their article be published as open access at no charge under the agreement. (See the “Is there a limit” question below for additional information.)
What is a corresponding author? How is their affiliation identified?
The corresponding author is the author who submits the article to Elsevier and stays in contact with Elsevier in the end-to-end publishing process. The corresponding author also is responsible for making publishing choices on behalf of the author group. Every article has one corresponding author, which must be affiliated with an OhioLINK institution that participates in the Electronic Journal Center (EJC). Elsevier asks authors to identify their institution affiliation as part of the publishing process. Use of an institutional email address is encouraged to ensure the corresponding author’s eligibility can be accurately determined.
When can I publish open access articles in Elsevier hybrid journals?
Access to the publishing benefits begins January 1, 2024 and continues through December 31, 2027. To publish an article as open access in an Elsevier journal without paying any Article Publication Charge (APC), the article must be accepted for publication during this period and APC coverage must be available under the agreement. As mentioned above, there is a maximum number of articles across all OhioLINK institutions that may be published as open access. If the limit is reached, authors will no longer see the option to publish as open access at no charge.
What kind of articles are eligible for open access publishing under this agreement? Which journals are eligible?
Full-length articles, micro-articles, review articles, case reports, data in brief, original software publications, practice guidelines, protocols, replication studies, short communication, short survey, and video articles are eligible for open access publishing in any of the eligible hybrid journals under this agreement (see Elsevier's page for the OhioLINK agreement). You can view the initial list of eligible journals for 2024, for for the most up-to-date information, you can search for eligible journals using Elsevier's journal finder tool for the OhioLINK agreement.
How does an author choose to publish an article as open access?
When a corresponding author's article has been approved for publication in an eligible Elsevier journal, they are offered the option to publish their article as open access. (See FAQs below for details.) In order to be offered the option of publishing open access at no charge, the annual cap limit must not have been reached. You can find more details about the process on Elsevier’s page about the OhioLINK agreement.
Is there a limit to how many articles can be published as open access under this agreement?
There is an annual limit to the number of articles to be published as open access under this agreement across all of OhioLINK member institutions, based on historical publishing trends. Should the article limit be reached, authors will no longer see the option to publish their article as open access under this deal. Authors could then choose to publish open access by paying the APC or they also could choose to publish their article as a traditional subscription-access only article at no cost to them. See Elsevier's APC price list for more information.
The maximum article allowance for all OhioLINK institutions has been reached for 2024. When the limit is reached, OA publishing fees for affiliated authors at these institutions can no longer be waived for the remainder of 2024 with Elsevier. Authors from OhioLINK institutions may choose to publish open access by paying the APC or they also could choose to publish their article as a traditional subscription-access only article at no cost to them. Starting January 1, 2025, coverage for OA publishing fees will again be available with a new annual allowance for OA articles.
For information about other open access agreements through OhioLINK, view the OA for authors page. Your institution’s library can also help with questions.
What information and training are available for faculty and authors?
Elsevier offers additional resources for authors interested in publishing their articles open access on their web site:
- See participating institutions, journal finder, and more on Elsevier’s information page about the OhioLINK agreement.
- Learn more Publishing Open Access with Elsevier.
OhioLINK has also created resources for this and other open access agreements it offers:
- OhioLINK will present a webinar for faculty in early 2024. Check back soon for details.
- The OhioLINK’s Open Access Agreements Summary Table answers open access publishing FAQ for the agreements available through OhioLINK.
Where can I go with questions?
Your librarians are the best resource to answer questions about hybrid open access publishing with Elsevier. Find your library's contact information here.
Elsevier has a contact email for authors who have questions: oasupport@elsevier.com
For more information about open access publishing opportunities available through OhioLINK, see OhioLINK's web page about open access publishing for authors.
Updated November 13, 2024
