In a fast-changing Open Access environment, research institutions and libraries are adjusting their workflows and taking on additional administrative and advocacy work. MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) helps institutions and researchers manage the transition to Open Access publishing.

What is MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program?

According to Nikoleta Kiapidou, Institutional Engagement Coordinator at MDPI, “the IOAP is MDPI´s way of working closer together with libraries, funders, and societies”. As she explains, it offers access to our online Submission System where librarians can see the article metadata of published papers and papers under processing, Article Processing Charges (APC) invoices, Editorial Board Members, and other information. It provides full transparency with respect to papers submitted to our journals and their APCs and allows for an early notification of possible APCs.

Thanks to this initiative, institutions can facilitate central APC payment and even deposit an amount in a pre-payment pot to cover the APCs of eligible authors from their central funds. Moreover, through this program, MDPI can consolidate invoices and adjust the invoicing process to the institutions’ needs.

The program includes auto-archiving of papers published by affiliated authors into the institutional repositories. Moreover, researchers affiliated with participating universities are granted a 10% discount on the APC for any paper published in an MDPI journal, while the institution incurs no fee for participating in the program.

Subscribing to IOAP

The standard program package is free with no fixed term, and options for higher discounts are available with discounts of up to 25% for authors. Also, Societies can also benefit from an equivalent program. So, if you are interested in finding out more, please contact us via the form here.

All the features of the Institutional Open Access Program aim at transparency and control for libraries and help save time and reduce administrative workloads. We are glad to see our participant list growing fast, with over 400 participant institutions, as of 2018. As Dr. Kiapidou mentions, “being connected with individual libraries around the world is vital in order to contribute to the research and scholarly communications community and be involved in the movement for full Open Access”.