Interviewed by Mona Kasra, ACM SIGGRAPH Chair
In 2026, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) will fully transition its publication process to 100% Open Access. Concurrently, the ACM Digital Library will shift from its current Pay-to-Read model to a Pay-to-Publish model. With numerous queries surrounding this transition within our community, I have invited Jonathan Aldrich, a member of ACM Publications Board, for a Q&A session to keep our SIGGRAPH members and contributors informed and updated. Additionally, I am excited to announce that ACM SIGGRAPH will be hosting a webinar with Jonathan and Scott Delman, the ACM Director of Publications for our members to hear about this transition directly with ACM Publications and ask questions. This webinar is scheduled for Thursday, 27 June 2024, at 5 pm Eastern Time.
To learn more and register to attend the webinar by following this link.
Thank you for accepting my invitation to discuss ACM’s transition to Open Access publishing, Jonathan. Could you please elaborate on ACM’s reasoning and objectives behind this change to an Open Access model?
ACM’s mission includes advancing the science of computing, serving the professional and public interests by fostering the open exchange of information (https://www.acm.org/about-acm/mission-vision-values-goals). Open Access fosters the open exchange of information, because now anyone will be able to freely access the knowledge that is published in ACM conferences and journals. Furthermore, Open Access increases the impact of scientific work, because anyone can easily find it, read it, and build on it, regardless of affiliation or ability to pay for a subscription to a digital library. In view of these benefits to science, various forms of Open Access are also required by a number of funding agencies, including the European Research Council and the US National Science Foundation.
What are the primary advantages of Open Access publishing for authors, and how might they be affected during and post-transition?
The primary benefit is increased visibility and impact of author’s work: ACM’s data also shows that articles published in the ACM Digital Library on an Open Access basis are on average downloaded 2-3X and cited 70% more than articles published behind the paywall.
Many authors are already benefiting from the transition to open access, because for the past several years ACM has been offering a new kind of digital library subscription to institutions, called ACM OPEN. While traditional digital library subscriptions allow members to read articles in a digital library, ACM OPEN is a “read and publish” subscription: it covers the cost of Open Access publishing articles so that all articles written by corresponding authors at a subscribing institution will be freely available to the public. Approximately 1,370 institutions worldwide have already subscribed to ACM OPEN!
One thing that will become important is for authors to accurately identify which author is the corresponding author of a paper. This author is responsible for communication with ACM about the paper, and is usually either the primary or senior author of the paper. ACM OPEN only applies to a paper (thus waiving any APC charge) if the corresponding author is at an institution that subscribes. ACM’s systems automatically identify author affiliations based on the email address provided, so if you are at an ACM OPEN institution, be sure to use your institutional email when you submit a paper.
As of June 2020, ACM has initiated this transition in phases. Could you update us on the progress and the current extent of Open Access content in the ACM Digital Library?
ACM has already made all content published prior to 2000 freely available in the digital library. Many more articles are available Open Access because the corresponding author was at an ACM OPEN institution when the article was published, or because the author voluntarily paid an APC.
Since January 2024, all articles published in ACM’s International Conference Proceedings Series (IPCS) series are also published Open Access. This is free to corresponding authors at institutions that subscribe to ACM OPEN, while corresponding authors at other institutions must pay an Article Processing Charge (APC). The IPCS series is for conferences organized by an external entity that is using ACM as a publisher, so it doesn’t affect conferences organized by SIGGRAPH yet.
Once the transition to Open Access is complete, what publishing options will be available for authors, and what can be expected in terms of Author Processing Charges (APCs) for those whose institutions do not join ACM Open?
Starting January 1, 2026, all articles published by ACM will be made Open Access. We anticipate that 60-65% or more of authors will be covered by ACM OPEN agreements by that point. But authors whose institutions do not join ACM Open will have to pay an APC when they publish a paper with ACM. Current APCs for ACM members are $700 for a conference paper and $1300 for a journal paper. The rate is higher ($1000/$1800) for non-ACM members, but an ACM membership only costs $100 for a year so everyone should join the ACM if they are going to publish a paper!
How can individual authors mitigate financial implications after the shift to a Pay-to-Publish model?
Many researchers who get grant funding can ask for APC coverage as part of the grant; funders are generally happy to support this as it increases the impact of the work (and may even be mandated, as mentioned above). But ACM realizes that not everyone has funding that can cover APCs. APCs are waived for anyone in low-income countries (as determined by the World Bank) and there is a 50% waiver for authors in lower middle income countries. In addition, any author without funding can apply for a discretionary APC waiver if they truly have no applicable funding source.
Could you discuss any potential changes and/or implications for conference publications and proceedings as a result of the transition to Open Access?
In general, conference publications and proceedings should not be greatly affected by the transition to Open Access. It should be a good thing for most conferences by increasing the availability and impact of the papers they publish! One thing to keep in mind, though, is that if a conference draws from a large number of people at institutions that do not subscribe to ACM OPEN, it may affect submissions to the conference. We therefore encourage conference organizers to get the word out about ACM OPEN and have conference attendees lobby for ACM OPEN adoption at their home institutions. I’ve attached a presentation that can be used to communicate this.
Our organization intends to support the SIGGRAPH community and conferences during this transition.In what ways can we contribute to making this process as smooth as possible for everyone?
We hope you can let people in your community know about the benefits of Open Access and about ACM OPEN subscriptions, and about the APCs that will be charged starting in 2026 for non-subscribers. Encourage everyone in the SIGGRAPH community to advocate for their institution to join ACM OPEN.
Do you have any additional comments or information you would like to share with the SIGGRAPH community regarding the transition to Open Access and its potential repercussions?
ACM’s transition to Open Access was planned in response to an ACM member-led petition in 2000 to open up the digital library. This is something that the community cares deeply about, and we believe it will have a transformative effect on the impact of ACM in the broader community. We ask for your support in making this transition a success!
* For more background and detailed information on Open Access, please visit ACM Website: https://libraries.acm.org/subscriptions-access/acmopen. To learn more about Open Access please register to attend the webinar with Jonathan Aldrich and Scott Delman by following this link.