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Open Access Journals

As a non-profit society publisher, AMS Publishing is committed to serving our community and providing access to valuable content. It is important that we carefully evaluate and consider how best to develop sustainable business models that support the mathematical community.

From the AMS Primer on Open Access

Communicating and sharing discoveries is an essential part of the research process. Any author of a research paper wants it to be read. Therefore, the fewer restrictions placed on access to those papers means that more people may benefit from the research. In many ways, the OA movement is very much in line with the shared mission of researchers, scholarly societies, and publishers.

AMS Open Access provides unrestricted electronic access to AMS peer-reviewed scholarly research. AMS research journals fall under three models of open access: diamond, green, and gold.

Intro to Green Open Access SectionAMS Green Open Access Journals

With green open access, the author may post a prepublication version of a journal article on their personal web page, their institution’s noncommercial repository, and/or on arXiv.org with no embargo period. The AMS considers any version of the paper up to the final peer-reviewed manuscript including revisions that take into account comments and suggestions of referees (often called the Author-Accepted-Manuscript) to be a prepublication version. The author can choose that the prepublication be posted under a Creative Commons license (more about this license model below.) There are no processing fees and the article is included in a subscription journal. All AMS subscription research journals are green open access journals.

In addition to this generous Green Open Access Policy, the AMS maximizes access to our subscription content in the following ways:

  • Open Archive: All subscription journal content over 5 years old (rolling) is open and free to read to all
  • Participation in the Research4Life program providing free access to readers in developing countries
  • CHORUS: As a member of CHORUS, research that is funded by CHORUS funding partners is made available in accordance with the relevant guidelines

Intro to Gold Open Access SectionAMS Gold Open Access Journals

With gold open access, the AMS makes the final published version of an article freely available electronically immediately upon publication. The AMS offers two gold open access journals: Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, Series B, and Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, Series B. Each of these journals requires payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC). In this model, it is generally assumed that an Article Processing Charge will be paid by a funding agency or by the author’s institution. APCs are not expected to be paid by the author personally. Resources for finding Open Access funding can be found here.

Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, Series B, and Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, Series B will serve as separate and distinct companions to the subscription journals Proceedings of the AMS and Transactions of the AMS. Each of the new journals is electronic-only and freely available online, supported by Article Processing Charges designed to cover the Society’s publication costs. In order to ensure the high editorial standard of each new journal, Proceedings of the AMS, Series B, and Transactions of the AMS, Series B, share common editorial boards, and thus submission procedures, with their companion journals. In addition, editorial decisions are completely independent of whether a paper is intended for the open access journal or its subscription counterpart.

The gold open access option is available for all articles accepted by the Proceedings of the AMS and Transactions of the AMS editorial boards. New articles should be submitted via www.ams.org/procsubmit or www.ams.org/transubmit. Upon acceptance of an article, the author(s) may choose open access publication. Publication in one of these gold open access journals is dependent upon payment of the APC by a research sponsor or the author’s home institution.

Article Processing Charges (APCs)

In the gold open access model, it is generally assumed that an APC will be paid by a funding agency or by the author’s institution. APCs are not expected to be paid by the author personally. If an author chooses the gold open access model, payment of the APC is required before the article will move into production; only those papers with paid APC will enter the open access journal queue. Note that APCs will be waived when the corresponding author is an AMS member.

The Article Processing Charges are:

  • Proceedings of the AMS, Series B: List Price US$1,500
    (Discounted price currently in place: US$750)
  • Transactions of the AMS, Series B: List Price US$2,750
    (Discounted price currently in place: US$750)

Resources for finding Open Access funding can be found here.

Creative Commons Licenses

Some funders require Creative Commons Licenses, although these requirements vary--some allow CC BY-NC-ND, while others require CC BY. Articles published in an AMS diamond or gold open access journal will be distributed under the terms of one of the following licenses:

  • The Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License (CC-BY-NC), which excludes commercial use. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the article noncommercially; the new work must credit the original article and be noncommercial.
  • The Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative License (CC BY-ND) allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use unless combined with the CC BY-NC options (CC BY-NC-ND).
  • The Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY) This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the article, even commercially, as long as credit for the original article is given.

Authors will retain copyright to their articles under CC BY-NC-ND, CC BY-NC, CC BY-ND, and CC BY.
Further information on general AMS copyright policies are also available here.