Big Ten Academic Alliance & PLOS Publishing Agreement

The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) and the Public Library of Science (PLOS) have entered into an agreement for BTAA members, including UW-Madison, to participate in PLOS’ Community Action Publishing (CAP) program. CAP is PLOS’ effort to sustain highly selective journal publishing without Article Processing Charges (APCs) for authors. The agreement ensures time to test and evaluate this new community-based model and allows BTAA researchers to publish in PLOS Biology and PLOS Medicine without incurring fees.

UW-Madison authors with articles accepted in PLOS Biology or PLOS Medicine between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2023 are eligible to benefit from this agreement. If a UW-Madison author, or an author from another member institution, is the corresponding author, there are no fees (APCs) to publish in PLOS Biology or PLOS Medicine during this pilot. If a UW-Madison author, or an author from another member institution, is a contributing author but the corresponding author is not, there is a 25% discount on the fee (APC).

All published articles are immediately Open Access and are available globally to read at no charge. There is no change to workflow for authors or librarians and it automatically extends to all authors from participating campuses.

The benefits extend to authors of system, regional, and branch campuses of Big Ten universities including UW System schools.

Under the umbrella of the BTAA’s BIG Collection, this is a focused pilot in collective action to create a sustainable, scalable open knowledge ecosystem across BTAA. The agreement covers all BTAA universities with one cost, rather than an institution-by-institution breakdown.

Please contact Carrie Nelson with any questions about the BTAA PLOS publishing agreement.