Capped Open Access Publishing Agreements

In 2025, four of the eleven Open Access publishing agreements available at Charles Sturt and negotiated by CAUL are subject to a nation-wide publishing cap. This means that once the article cap is reached, there will no longer be room for new articles to be published under the agreement this year.

The publishers with capped agreements are:

• Elsevier (not expected to be reached)
• Springer Nature (2025 cap exhausted)
• Taylor & Francis (2025 cap exhausted)
• Wiley and Hindawi (2025 hybrid cap exhausted; fully OA cap expected to be reached early November).

When a cap is exhausted, there is no longer an option for Article Processing Charges (APCs) to be covered in 2025.

What does it mean for me if a cap is exhausted?

If your article is peer reviewed and accepted by the publisher before the cap was reached, then you’re still eligible for your APC to be covered under the agreement.

If your final peer reviewed article was only accepted after the cap was reached, your options depend on the journal type.

Fully open access journals.

You will need to find an alternative source of funds to pay the APC. If you cannot find the funds for the APC, you may have to withdraw your paper.

Hybrid journal (mixed open access and subscription, or closed, access).

Find an alternative source of funds to pay the APC

Publish under the subscription route “behind the paywall” and make your work open access, by depositing your author accepted manuscript (AAM) in CRO. Your AAM may be subject to an embargo period depending on the publisher policy.

Can I just delay signing the agreement and use next year’s cap to pay the APC?

No, eligibility for payment under the R&P deals is based on the peer reviewed article’s acceptance date, not on the date you sign the publisher agreement. If your final article is accepted after the cap is reached and before 31 December 2025, it will not be eligible. In addition to this, we are unable to guarantee which publishers or journals will remain on the title lists after each round of negotiations.

What are my options if I have not yet submitted my article?

If you haven’t submitted your article yet, you can:

• Choose another journal with a publisher that has not yet reached the cap.
• Publish in a diamond open access journal that does not charge APC’s.
• Be prepared to pay the APC for full (gold) open access.
• Include a Rights Retention statement with your manuscript submission to a journal that offers a subscription option with no APC. If the article is accepted after peer review, submit your AAM for immediately open access in CRO (Contact the library for more information).

What is being negotiated for 2026?

CAUL is currently in negotiations with the major publishers for agreements in 2026. While it is likely that we will continue to maintain a number of agreements, we cannot predict which publishers or journals will make the title list next year. Please continue to check, both here and on the CAUL website for more updated information.

Do you have any questions about Open Access Publishing agreements at Charles Sturt? Please contact us.