Elsevier

Type

Read and Publish agreement (via CAUL).

Status

Active from 1 January 2023 (for articles accepted from this date).

Current agreement term

1 January 2026 - 31 December 2029.

Journal coverage

Unlimited open access publishing for University of Melbourne corresponding authors in hybrid Elsevier journals.

Expanded coverage in 2026 sees the inclusion of hybrid journals in the Cell Press and Lancet portfolios. Only articles accepted to these journals from 1 January 2026 are eligible.

Covered journals are reflected in our 2026 all covered journals spreadsheet. They will also be included in CAUL's 2026 title list. The ultimate authority for coverage is Elsevier's participating journals list, reflected in their Journal Finder.

Fully open access journals are excluded from the agreement. Author-facing APCs will apply.

Eligible authors

To be eligible, the article's responsible corresponding author must provide their University of Melbourne affiliation. This must be their first and primary affiliation both in Elsevier's Online Author Communication System (OACS) and in the article itself.

Eligible article types

The following article types are eligible for open access under this agreement:

  • Full Length articles
  • Review articles
  • Case Reports
  • Protocols
  • Short Communications
  • Micro Articles
  • Original Software Publications
  • Short Surveys
  • Data
  • Practice guidelines
  • Replication Studies
  • Video Articles

Note that some Elsevier journals use different terms when referring to the article types they publish. Check with your journal editors if you are unsure whether a particular article type is eligible.

How to use the agreement

When possible, corresponding authors should use their unimelb email address (@unimelb.edu.au or @student.unimelb.edu.au). This should be used for correspondence and in the publisher's systems. This assists with verification of your University affiliation.

  1. Follow Elsevier's usual submission process.
  2. On acceptance, the corresponding author must complete a Rights and Access form in the OACS. This is the author's publishing agreement with Elsevier.
  3. In this form, the corresponding author must:
    • Select the University of Melbourne as their organisation.
    • Select the "Gold Open Access" publishing option.
    • Select a Creative Commons licence (e.g., CC BY).
  4. Coverage under the capped agreement is sent to the CAUL consortium for approval. They will quickly approve APC waivers for corresponding authors affiliated with the University of Melbourne.

As noted in Elsevier's Publishing Journey website: "If the institution does not validate paying the APC, then you receive an invoice for the full APC. In case you have no funding available, you contact the us via email to change the publishing option to subscription to publish free of charge within two weeks of Elsevier sending the invoice."

For details on how to use the Elsevier agreement, see the "Open access workflow" section of the agreement's CAUL R&P Guide page.

Related discount

University of Melbourne corresponding authors may be eligible for a 15% APC discount in some journals not covered by this agreement. The discount includes Elsevier's fully open access (gold) journals. See "Discounts on open access publishing fees" on the Open Access Publishing page for details.

2025 journal coverage and exclusions

Limited (capped) open access publishing for University of Melbourne corresponding authors in selected hybrid Elsevier journals. The covered journals list included over 1,600 Elsevier journals.

Lancet and Cell Press journals were excluded from the 2023-2025 agreement. Some journals in Elsevier's core hybrid collection were not eligible. Check the 2025 coverage lists (available in the Open Access Publishing page FAQ) to confirm journal eligibility.

Fully open access journals are also excluded from the agreement. Author-facing APCs apply.

2025 cap details

Prior to 2026, this was a capped agreement. There was a limit to the number of articles that could have their open access publishing fees covered under the agreement during the calendar year.

This cap was not reached in 2025, when it was set at 100% of participating institutions' 2021 publication count in eligible journals.

All Australian universities that have signed the CAUL-negotiated agreement contributed to the same annual cap, tracked on the CAUL R&P Guide's Elsevier page.

Further information

Link directly to this information | Return to the Open Access Publishing page