Publishing Agreements at McMaster University

For the two-year period, February 1 2023-January 31 2025, McMaster authors will be able to publish an unlimited number of articles in the full PLOS suite of Open Access journals. For more on the submission process, check PLOS FAQ for Authors or watch the video.

Authors should use their @mcmaster.ca email when submitting.

McMaster Libraries are pleased to announce a 2 year pilot project with the Public Library of Science (PLOS) to participate in a Transformative Agreement, which is an innovative publishing model to eliminate author/article processing charges (APCs). PLOS publishes a suite of peer reviewed Open Access journals. The agreement provides McMaster faculty, staff, and students with unlimited publishing privileges in all PLOS titles without incurring a fee. Articles are immediately available without restrictions.

This agreement exemplifies McMaster Libraries’ commitment to Open Access publishing. It builds on current initiatives of publishing support for discounts and waivers through license agreements with selected publishers.

Publishing in an Open Access journal has gained traction over the years because of its potential to broaden the reach of the published research. The elimination of APCs for corresponding authors will expand the publishing opportunities for all McMaster authors regardless of their career stage, or whether they have grants or funding.

Information on how authors self-identify with McMaster University at the time of submission can be found in this video. Corresponding authors must include their McMaster affiliation and email address at the time of submission to benefit from fee waivers.

What happens at the end of the pilot?

The fee for this trial is based on the University’s current publication output in the PLOS journals. McMaster Libraries will evaluate the effectiveness of the agreement and project future cost implications at the end of the project to determine the project’s sustainability.