The fully Open Access (OA) publisher MDPI today announced its first consortium agreement in the United States. The agreement with the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL) is open-ended, marking a significant milestone in MDPI’s expansion across North America. Sixteen libraries and academic institutions will benefit from MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP), including significant discounts on article processing charges (APCs) for affiliated scholars across its entire journal portfolio.

George Machovec, executive director of CARL, said: “The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries is pleased to have signed an agreement with MDPI for their Institutional Open Access Program on behalf of the academic institutions in Colorado and Wyoming. This agreement provides discounted APCs for authors to publish open access articles through the MDPI platform, thus promoting greater equity of access to researchers around the world.”

Libraries from the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Denver, and Colorado School of Mines are included in the latest agreement, alongside other leading institutions. In 2024 alone, more than 26,400 research articles by U.S. scholars were published by MDPI and indexed in Web of Science. The new agreement with CARL ensures U.S. research continues to reach a global audience, supporting greater accessibility to leading science.

This is the second North American partnership MDPI has signed, following its recent consortium agreement with the Canadian Federal Science Libraries Network (FSLN). Together, these regions accounted for nearly 14% of MDPI’s global publishing output in 2024. This points to a broader shift in institutional support for OA in North America, while highlighting MDPI’s growing influence in global academic publishing.

Ryan Siu, MDPI institutional partnerships manager for North America, said: “MDPI’s partnership with the Colorado Alliance comes at an important time for Open Access in the United States. With OSTP’s 2022 public access guidance taking effect later this year, alongside the expediated 2024 NIH Public Access Policy implemented in July, institutions across the country are reassessing how they will support researchers in making federally funded research freely accessible. MDPI is proud to be a trusted partner helping institutions to navigate this shifting landscape and in making research free to read for people everywhere.”

About CARL

The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, commonly referred to as "The Alliance," is a consortium of sixteen libraries located in Colorado and Wyoming. Founded in 1974 to consider ways of sharing resources, the consortium continues working toward that objective. The driving force is cooperation and the sharing of purchasing power, materials, and ideas.

About MDPI

Headquartered in Switzerland, MDPI is a fully Open Access publisher with a portfolio of more than 480 journals across all scientific disciplines. To date, MDPI has published the works of over 4.2 million researchers, collaborating with an extensive network of academic institutions and scientific societies worldwide. Above all, MDPI is committed to ensuring that high-quality research is freely accessible to readers across the globe.

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