Penn Libraries Opens 50% of Penn's Scholarship: New Agreements with Elsevier, Emerald

The Penn Libraries is pleased to enter a new, three-year (2025-2027) open access agreement with Elsevier, the largest academic publisher in the world.

This successful negotiation by the Libraries marks a milestone for the University in terms of open access. With the agreement in place, Penn authors publish nearly 50% of their publications with publishers who have entered into open access agreements with the Penn Libraries.

"By embracing open access initiatives, we extend our reach, sharing Penn's intellectual riches with a worldwide audience and reinforcing the University's role as a knowledge leader," said Brigitte Weinsteiger, H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of the Penn Libraries. "This agreement with Elsevier significantly expands our capacity to open Penn scholarship and reaffirms our deep commitment to equitable information access."

The new Read and Publish agreement enables Penn-affiliated authors to publish articles open access in Elsevier’s core hybrid journal collection without paying article processing charges (APCs) themselves, while continuing to offer the Penn community access to read over 2,400 Elsevier journals through the Penn Libraries subscription.

The Penn Libraries has also entered a one-year pilot Read and Publish agreement with the social sciences publisher Emerald. The agreement covers Penn authors' APCs for open access publishing in Emerald hybrid journals and expands the Penn community’s access to Emerald publications. Penn faculty, staff, and students can now read all titles in Emerald's eJournals Premier collection, an increase from 120 to 313 titles.

Increasing Reach, Saving Costs

In its commitment to open access, the Penn Libraries builds on Penn's broader goal to be a global university, contributing solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.

Studies show that open-access publications are cited more than those behind a paywall. Citations of open publications also reach a broader audience, covering a wider range of geographic locations, institutions, and disciplines. As a result, open access scholarship — including cutting-edge scientific experiments and impactful research studies — spreads rapidly and stimulates new research, which in turn impacts real-world problem solving in forms that include governmental policies, treatments for health problems, economic investment in promising new technologies, and rebuilding public trust in science and higher education.  

Penn’s ethos is to discover, disseminate, and employ knowledge for its sake and also for the benefit of humankind. Open access breeds new and meaningful ways for Penn to contribute to the world, including educational opportunities, scientific breakthroughs, and deep understanding that improves all our lives.

Beyond increasing the reach and impact of Penn’s research, the Libraries' commitment to open access helps the University comply with federal mandates for public access and provides sustainable, cost-effective support for Penn’s publishing activity.  

The Penn Libraries currently holds transformative open access agreements with Cambridge University Press, Company of Biologists, Elsevier, Emerald, Institute of Physics (IOP), Royal Society of Chemistry, Sage, Springer, and Wiley.

Details for Penn Authors

For more information on what the Elsevier and Emerald agreements mean for Penn researchers, including details about eligible authors and articles, please see our online guide to Open Access Agreements for Penn Authors. Find descriptions of different open access models and additional background on open access publishing in our Open Access Publishing guide.

The Penn Libraries also offers comprehensive ongoing support for authors who are preparing to publish their research. We can support you in developing a better understanding of open access, copyright, citation best practices, Creative Commons licenses, choosing a journal or other publication venue, preprints, publisher contracts, and more. Find publishing resources, contacts, and workshops on our website.