Additional information on the intended use and benefits of this new path to funder and employer compliance
IEEE strives to support all authors and readers globally. That means being able to offer any author a publication venue that is compliant with their circumstances, regardless of their funding status, the publishing mandates they may have in place, or where in the world they may work.
To that end, IEEE introduced a new option in March 2025 for authors obligated to comply with very specific open access mandates – the Repository License Fee (RLF).
The Repository License Fee option was specially developed for authors who have employer or funder mandates to post the accepted manuscript (AM) in a repository with a CC BY, but the publication venue of choice does not offer a traditional article processing charge (APC) to publish Gold OA (such as a conference) or the funding entity does not allow funds to be used to support APCs under any circumstances.
This new option complements a wide range of existing OA access options available from IEEE that includes more than 30 fully OA journals and over 180 hybrid journals that offer authors the option to publish individual articles as open access via an article processing charge (APC).
Following the introduction of this new option, IEEE has received some questions regarding the use and intent of the RLF so we are providing further information below to help clarify.
Does IEEE still have a Green OA policy?
Yes, as per IEEE post-publication policies, IEEE continues to support Green OA, as it has done for many years. IEEE allows an author, if required to do so by its funder or employer, to place the accepted manuscript (AM) in a publicly accessible repository, such as a university archive, at no charge. The version of record (VOR) would remain in IEEE Xplore and be accessible to subscribers. The no-fee Green OA method remains an option to the author. However, the AM must be labeled as copyright IEEE as this option does not include a CC BY license.
And does this mean IEEE is now charging for Green OA?
No. IEEE enables authors to publish without an APC in a subscription-based journal and to place the AM in an open repository if the author is required to do so by the study’s funder or the author’s employer. There is no fee associated with this option, but it does not include a CC BY license.
Then why is the introduction of the RLF necessary?
Maintaining the architecture and service around peer review publishing comes at significant cost, especially for publishers that are highly selective to help keep flawed papers and lower-quality studies out of the ecosystem and to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record. The emergence of a Green OA alternative that is inclusive of the unrestricted CC BY adds significant risk to any publisher seeking to sustain the costs around publication. IEEE understands that authors are burdened by emerging requirements by some funders and employers demanding the CC BY for their Green OA article AMs. Accordingly, IEEE is providing an alternative avenue to authors under such mandates that will allow them to publish in their preferred publications and still meet the requirements of their funders or employers.
What services does the RLF exactly support?
There are a number of factors IEEE takes into account when developing any business models or pricing models (such as APCs) for any of its publishing offerings, including the RLF. IEEE designs its publishing program to be sustainable, taking into account all of the costs related to publishing an article and maintaining a high-quality publishing program. This includes:
• Editorial work, peer-review administration, management, and platform maintenance
• Professional production of articles, copy editing, and formatting in PDF and other formats, all managed by IEEE production staff
• Tools and administration for securing and protecting IP rights, plagiarism checks and other tools to detect fraud and protect academic integrity
• Dissemination of papers in various venues for bibliometric monitoring and management
• Technical infrastructure such as data storage and management, publishing platform development, data security, and maintenance
• Institutional open access administration tools
• Ensure proper indexing of articles to maximize discoverability
• Marketing and communications to raise awareness of published content
• Customer service for authors, readers, and institutions, and author support tools
• Digital preservation services to ensure long-term archival access to scholarly literature
• Governance to ensure enforcement of editorial policies, procedures, and quality controls
• Various other publishing functions and infrastructure costs
Are there other alternatives to the RLF that allow the author to comply with a CC BY mandate from its funder or employer?
Yes. If an author’s institution is covered by a Read & Publish (R&P) agreement with IEEE that includes the author’s publishing venue of choice, the author can make use of that R&P to pay a discounted APC to make the article VOR, under a CC BY license, Open Access on IEEE Xplore, which means that the VOR is also available under CC BY for deposit in an open repository. If the author’s institution is not covered by an R&P agreement, or the R&P agreement does not cover the author’s publishing venue of choice, the author can still pay an APC to publish Open Access, with the same result. The RLF is another option added to provide a path to compliance with a Green OA with CC BY mandate when the author is not able to pay an APC for Open Access because the publishing venue of choice (such as a conference) does not offer an APC option.
Does the RLF represent a form of double payment to IEEE?
No, IEEE does not endorse or practice any business models that would be considered “double-dipping.” IEEE ensures that its products are sustainable, regardless of business model, as each open access journal and subscription-based journal must be able to succeed on their own. One small example of this is found in the usage statistics provided to institutional subscribers. In these reports, usage of open access journals is tabulated separately since the subscription must be able to demonstrate continued value independently to the institution.
The RLF does not represent a “double dipping” model either because, when a CC BY is applied to an AM, the VOR that resides in IEEE Xplore loses value as the AM version of that article is now available for broad reuse, including commercial use and the creation of derivative works. As that scales and the number of AMs with a CC BY attached increases over time, the value of a subscription will diminish and generate less revenue to fund IEEE’s publishing program. In order to maintain a sustainable, high-quality publishing program for the technical community, publishers such as IEEE need to find new paths to support authors under various mandates while offsetting declines in subscription value.
Is the imposition of the RLF simply a type of publisher imposed penalty for CC BY?
No, we don’t see it as a penalty at all. In fact, it opens up a new route to OA compliance that did not exist previously for publication venues that did not offer an APC option. This is especially true for most conferences and some magazines. With the RLF option in place, conference authors with an applicable funder or employer mandate will now have a path to compliance that was not available prior to this.
Does this mean IEEE is now charging a submission fee?
No, the RLF is not a submission fee. The RLF applies to only accepted articles where the author is under a mandate to provide the article in an open repository with a CC BY license. In fact, the RLF option is not available where no such mandate exists. When applied under these specific circumstances, the RLF is payable upon acceptance (not submission).
As mentioned above, IEEE strives to support all authors and readers globally and continues to support open science and provide more options and choices to support the work and needs of all authors and researchers. The introduction of the RLF is another step in support of that commitment. Further information related to the RLF and applicable fees, author processes, and eligibility criteria are available on the RLF announcement page.