Dear İstinye Family,
As part of the EKUAL Project conducted by TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM, a new “Read & Publish” agreement has been signed with Cambridge University Press, covering the 2026-2028 period, which supports both access to academic content and the publication of Open Access (OA) articles.
Scope and Duration of the Agreement
• Duration: The agreement is valid for three years, from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2028.
• Access: All EKUAL member institutions in Turkey will continue to have access to the Cambridge Journals Online (CJO) “Full Package” content.
• Open Access: Under the relevant agreement, the right to publish open access (in the CJO “Full Package” content) is provided without quota.
TÜBİTAK AE Publication Support and Acceptance Criteria
Responsible authors must meet the following criteria to have their articles published as AE without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC):
• Rights Holder Author: The corresponding author must be an authorized user of an EKUAL member institution.
• Institutional Affiliation: Authors are advised to use their institutional email addresses in their applications. Personal email addresses (gmail, hotmail, etc.) cause delays in the verification process.
• Institutional Scope: Includes all institutions that are members of EKUAL.
• Scope of the Agreement: The agreement covers unlimited AE article publication in both hybrid journals and gold (fully/complete) open access journals.
Retroactive Open Access Conversion
Under the agreement, the rules regarding the retroactive conversion of articles to Open Access are as follows:
• Publications in Hybrid Journals: Articles published in “Hybrid” journals between January 1, 2026 and the date of signing the agreement (February 16, 2026) can be converted to Open Access without any fees, upon the request of the relevant author(s) (notification to ukg@ulakbim.gov.tr is required) and approval from TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM, can be converted to Open Access without any fees. No refund will be made for articles published in open access in hybrid journals with APC fees paid.
• Publications in Full Open Access Journals: No refund will be made for articles published in Gold Open Access journals with APC fees paid between January 1, 2026, and February 16, 2026.
• General Conversion Right: During the contract period, articles published as “Closed” in hybrid journals at any time can be converted to the AE model within 3 months of the year of publication at the author's request.
You can follow the TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM EKUAL page for the current journal list, application guides, and training materials.
Special Note: If any author whose name appears on the TÜBİTAK AYEK Prohibited Persons List or on the list of persons whose “authority to practice their profession has been revoked or temporarily suspended” by the Ministry of Health has been mistakenly granted APC support during the period of prohibition, or if the responsible author or co-authors of an article that has received APC support must notify ukg@ulakbim.gov.tr in the event of a retraction (retraction), the corresponding author or co-authors must notify ukg@ulakbim.gov.tr and pay the APC fee to ULAKBİM. Otherwise, ULAKBİM has the right to collect the APC fee from the “Corresponding Author/Responsible Author.”
For any questions, requests, or suggestions, you can reach us via the email address kutuphane@istinye.edu.tr.