APC Offers
Transformative agreements are contracts negotiated between university libraries (or consortia) and scientific journal publishers, which enable the institution’s research staff to publish in these journals under an open-access model without having to pay APC (Article Processing Charge) fees.
To ensure a fair distribution of resources, open access agreements (APCs) are primarily reserved for authors without specific funding. Researchers leading projects are urged to plan their expenditure from the application stage onwards, thereby ensuring that external funding covers their own publication costs.
How it works
Requirements
The corresponding author (the person submitting the publication) must have an ORCID, hold an institutional email address with an active agreement, such as @iqs.url.edu, and correctly state their institutional affiliation.
Check it out
Please ensure that the publisher and journal with which you wish to publish openly have a transformative agreement with Universitat Ramon Llull.
Contact us
Please contact the IQS Library to enquire about the availability of agreements to extend the APC (Article Processing Charge) or to clarify any queries.
Publishers offering 2026 APCs
Transformative agreements at Universitat Ramon Llull
At Universitat Ramon Llull, we offer coverage for an unlimited number of APCs through our joint transformative agreement with the CSUC.
The transformative open access publishing agreement with Elsevier allows the university to publish an unlimited number of articles openly, with articles accepted from the start date of 1 January 2026 until 31 December 2026.
Access to transformative agreements with Emerald is only granted if there are unused APCs remaining after the annual subscription cycle.
Information on the transformative agreement with Emerald and guidelines for authors
The URL, together with the CSUC, has signed an agreement with the publisher Frontiers for open access publishing, which allows a limited number of the university’s articles to be published openly, subject to the following conditions:
- A 10% discount on the cost price of each item, provided that the institution covers the cost.
- The agreement covers all journals published by this publisher.
- The corresponding author must provide their institutional email address from the URL.
At Universitat Ramon Llull, we offer funding for a limited number of APCs through the joint transformative agreement with the CSUC.
At Universitat Llull University, we offer funding for a limited number of APCs through the joint transformative agreement with the CSUC.
Information on the transformative agreement with SpringerNature and guidelines for authors
At Universitat Ramon Llull, we offer funding for a limited number of APCs through the joint transformative agreement with the CSUC.
Information on the transformative agreement with Wiley and guidelines for authors