The MSU Libraries have signed a three-year transformative read-and-publish agreement with the De Gruyter publishing house to provide default open access publishing for all articles by MSU authors in De Gruyter journals. 

This arrangement means that MSU lead authors publishing in these journals will no longer have to pay the usual De Gruyter article processing charge, which can amount to hundreds of dollars. 

MSU-authored articles will be visible to all readers, even those without an MSU Net ID, increasing the visibility of MSU research on the internet. The agreement also gives readers with an authenticating MSU Net ID access to articles in a full set of 347 De Gruyter subscription journals. 

The agreement represents a new way the MSU Libraries are working to support research, teaching and learning, said Joseph Salem, dean of Libraries. 

“This deal will relieve some significant financial burdens on faculty, who are working to publish in their fields of study,” Salem said. “We’re covering some costs that individuals or departments were once responsible for, and we’re advancing open access to MSU research.”

MSU Libraries Head of Collections Steven Sowards described the three-year deal as a valuable way to explore new models in academic publishing and said it should open many doors for campus readers and authors. 

“We’re really pleased to provide access to the rich content on degruyter.com and to help MSU researchers publish their discoveries through open access,” Sowards said. “De Gruyter publishes journals in a wide range of disciplines, not only STEM but also the social sciences and humanities.”