A drone shot across Manchester from the west, toward Deansquare. Image – Getty : Alzay
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘Unlimited Publishing Opportunities in All Frontiers Journals’
The Lausanne-based Swiss research publisher Frontiers has announced this week a new three-year flat-fee publishing agreement with Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom.
The agreement, starting this year, allows “Man Met,” as it’s called, “to provide its researchers with unlimited publishing opportunities in all Frontiers journals, free of individual article processing charges (APCs).
- Budget security: “The flat-fee model offers a predictable and transparent pricing structure for the institution”
-
Administrative ease: “Frontiers’ inclusive approach reduces administrative burdens, allowing researchers and institutions to focus on advancing science”
-
Full open-access compliance: “Articles are published under CC-BY licensing, enabling immediate accessibility, with authors retaining their copyrights.”
Franck Vazquez
The arrangement, according to Frontiers’ media messaging in its February 4 announcement, includes a statement from Franck Vazquez, the company’s director of Partnerships. Vazquez says that the agreement “aligns with our shared vision of making open access publishing more equitable and sustainable,” said Franck Vazquez, Director of Partnerships at Frontiers.
“This model not only removes financial barriers for researchers but also supports institutions in managing their open-access budgets efficiently.
“We look forward to working together to advance open science and global knowledge sharing.”
To be eligible under the agreement, researchers need to ensure that the corresponding author is affiliated with the university and that they use their institutional email address when submitting the manuscript.
Frontiers asserts that it’s actively engaging with other British institutions to promote similar agreements, fostering what Frontiers describes as “a more sustainable, cost-efficient, and equitable fully open publishing ecosystem hybrid, transformative or subscription deals.”
Such partnerships, the Frontier program asserts, “accelerate the transition to full and immediate open access, benefiting the global research community.
“This agreement” Frontiers’ self-promotional announcement, exemplifies Manchester Metropolitan University’s commitment to advancing open access publishing while ensuring financial sustainability and institutional efficiency.”
More from Publishing Perspectives on international publishing is here; more on academic and scholarly publishing is here; and more on the United Kingdom’s market is here.