Transformative agreement with Wiley saves Clemson researchers more than $300,000 in publishing costs

Clemson Libraries helped save more than $321,600 in publishing costs for Clemson researchers in 2023, thanks to a transformative agreement with Wiley publishing company.

The agreement, which is part of Clemson Libraries’ membership in the Carolina Consortium, allows researchers to publish in a number of open access journals at no cost. The average cost to publish in an open access journal last year was $3,216 per article.

Clemson researchers published 100 articles through the Wiley agreement last year in 79 unique journals, ranging from Advanced Functional Materials to Wildlife Biology to Renaissance Studies. Articles were published by 75 individual researchers across 34 departments, which represent nearly all of Clemson’s colleges. Seven of those published researchers were students — six graduate students and one undergraduate.

“Having the option to publish in open access forums is particularly critical for scholars who want to engage with a broader audience,” said Natasha Croom, associate dean for academic and student affairs for the graduate school and associate professor in the College of Education. “As a Higher Education Studies professor, my hope is that by using open access opportunities my applied research and its recommendations can be accessed and taken up by postsecondary faculty, staff, and administrators. Informing a greater diversity of thought, can in turn, inform extant practices.”

“Clemson authors have published more through the Wiley read and publish agreement than through all other transformative agreements combined,” said Chris Vidas, head of collections and acquisitions for Clemson Libraries. “The return on investment has been impressive, and we look forward to establishing new agreements modeled after our success through Wiley.”

Clemson Libraries also has similar transformative agreements with several other publishers, including Cambridge University Press, AIP Publishing and Springer. To see a full list of agreements and guidelines for publishing, visit https://clemson.libguides.com/transformative/.