ACS signs ‘read and publish’ transformative agreement with IReL consortium

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2021 — The Publications Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) is proud to announce a new transformative “read and publish” agreement with the IReL consortium in Ireland. With this agreement, ACS expands its read and publish program to over 390 institutions across 23 countries.

“IReL is excited to begin this new chapter in our long-standing relationship with ACS,” says Jack Hyland, IReL manager. “The read and publish model means that overnight, open access becomes the default option offered to hundreds of Irish researchers publishing with ACS, and its author workflows will make this as easy and frictionless as possible for them.”

The agreement, which lasts through 2025, brings the possibility for all articles published at IReL’s nine participating institutions to be made open access. Additionally, researchers and students will continue to enjoy full access to ACS’ suite of more than 75 premier journals.

“This is yet another great example of collaboration and transformation, bringing publishers and universities together to accelerate open access while keeping the researchers’ needs top of mind,” says Jim Baldini, vice president of global sales, business operations and analytics at ACS Publications. “This program expands access globally to Ireland’s important research articles, provides ease and efficiencies in processing, meets funder requirements and allows continued readership access to ACS’ 775,000+ articles in a single solution.”

ACS is committed to making open access easier for researchers and institutions. As a part of this read and publish agreement, IReL will benefit from ACS’ automated author workflows and its integration with RightsLink for Scientific Communications from Copyright Clearance Center. RightsLink is an advanced open access agreement management solution, managing open access agreements between more than 30 publishers and over 800 institutions and funders in more than 40 countries. The service drives collaboration, partnership and innovation in the evolving scholarly publishing ecosystem.

“The Irish institutions that are part of IReL are performing incredible research, and I’m looking forward to the ways that this agreement will make it easier for them to share their research articles with the global chemistry community,” says James Milne, Ph.D., president, ACS Publications Division. “Read and publish agreements such as these are one aspect of ACS’ commitment to open access. Through transformative agreements, open access journals, unique products like SciMeetings and more, ACS is continually working to advance open access around the world.”

Established in 2004, IReL is an e-resource licensing consortium for Irish publicly funded higher education institutions and is managed and governed by Maynooth University. Since 2020, IReL has helped deliver 15 open access agreements for its members. Further information: https://irel.ie/.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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