Open Access Agreements and Co-Authored Articles
Published on August 27, 2026
Dear Librarian… is Western Libraries' advice column unpacking the practical realities of academic publishing, open access, research data, copyright, and more. Each installment answers a real question submitted by a Western researcher or graduate student—or breaks down a timely topic you might not know to ask about yet.
Dear Librarian,
I’ve recently had a paper accepted in a Wiley journal. It is co-authored with a former graduate student, who is now a faculty member at another university. They did this research while completing their PhD at Western, and they are the lead author. I listed my affiliation with Western when we submitted the manuscript. Can Western cover the APC cost for the open access option?
Sincerely,
A Frugal Researcher
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Dear Frugal Researcher,
It depends on who’s listed as corresponding author, and what affiliation they gave.
Under our agreement with Wiley (and several other publishers), your article could qualify for full APC coverage in two cases: if you are the corresponding author, or if your student is the corresponding author and listed Western as their affiliation at submission.
But if your student is the corresponding author and used their new university’s affiliation, Western’s agreement won’t apply. If their new university doesn’t have its own agreement with Wiley, there’s a cheaper path: publish the article as subscription access, then deposit your Accepted Manuscript in Western's Open Repository.
Two things worth knowing:
Publishers don’t allow changes to the corresponding author and their affiliation after submission. You can’t change either one later to qualify for an OA discount.
With co-authored articles, the choice of who is the corresponding author can make a big difference to the available discount or waiver on open access publishing fees. When you’re co-authoring with a student, a recent graduate, or a colleague at another institution, check first if their institution has an agreement with the publisher that will cover the APC costs. It’s tempting to let a student handle the submission to get first-hand experience, or to let another co-author take on the admin work, or to have the “lead author” serve as the corresponding author to keep those roles together. Any of these choices can end up costing more in open access fees than expected.
Sincerely,
Kristin Hoffmann
Research and Scholarly Communication Librarian
