ACM OPEN

A Sustainable Approach to Open Access

ACM Open is designed to help institutions support Open Access publishing at scale while ensuring continued access to the premium version of the ACM Digital Library. By removing Article Processing Charges (APCs) for authors and offering a transparent, tiered pricing model, ACM Open provides a cost-effective way for institutions to contribute to a more open and accessible computing research ecosystem.

How ACM Open Works

Unlimited Open Access Publishing – Corresponding authors at participating institutions can publish an unlimited number of Open Access articles without incurring Article Processing Charges (APCs).
Institutional Access and Benefits – Institutions receive Premium access to the ACM Digital Library, ensuring their researchers and students benefit from ACM’s extensive collection of computing research, with unrestricted access to ACM Digital Library’s full suite of research tools and features, supporting advanced discovery, collaboration and workflow efficiency.
Fair and Transparent Pricing – Costs are determined based on an institution’s historical publishing activity, ensuring a sustainable and predictable payment model.

Tiered Pricing: Ensuring Fair and Predictable Costs

ACM Open follows a tiered pricing structure, aligning institutional costs with historical publication activity to ensure fair and scalable participation.

The following tier pricing is in effect until December 31, 2027:

Tiers Level	Article Output Range	Tier Pricing ($)
1	75+	$95,000
2	60-74	$70,000
3	40-59	$50,000
4	30-39	$35,000
5	20-29	$25,000
6	16-19	$20,000
7	12-15	$15,000
8	8-11	$12,000
9	4-7	$9,500
10	0-3	$6,000 or DL Read Spend, whichever is lower

The ACM OPEN All-In Model

In addition to the ACM OPEN tier-based model described above, ACM is piloting a model intended to facilitate consortia and government-funded transitions to Open Access. Colloquially, we refer to this as our consortia model, or our “all-in” model. Much as ACM’s tier-based model was developed in consultation with the library community, ACM developed the all-in model in response to feedback from institutions that were eligible for central or state-provided funding but needed an agreement structure that delivered a pathway to compliance with funder and institutional mandates.

The key principles of this model are one and the same as our tier-based model, with pricing calculated through analysis of 3 years of publishing history and consistent, global application. The key difference is that this model allows a group to allocate costs across participants to best serve their funding requirements.To arrive at a price for a consortium or a group of institutions, we first review the last 3 years of publishing data, affiliating papers by corresponding authors to the participating institutions. ACM determines a price per article for proceedings and a price per article for papers in journals, which we apply to the output from the group to arrive at an all-inclusive price covering annual publishing costs for the group. The list of participants is fixed for the duration of the agreement. There is no ramp up discount, as the pricing calculated translates to a cost neutral price to cover the group’s costs of publishing with ACM.

This model is not without risk for ACM, as typically publishing increases under an ACM OPEN license; however, this model has allowed groups to tap into shared funding they otherwise might not have been able to access and underscores ACM’s commitment to a revenue neutral transition to Open Access publishing via ACM OPEN.

Contact us for more information at dl-info@hq.acm.org.

Institutions already participating in ACM Open can be found here.

ACM Opens First 50 Years Backfile

ACM has opened the articles published during the first 50 years of its publishing program, from 1951 through the end of 2000, These articles are now open and freely available to view and download via the ACM Digital Library. ACM’s first 50 years backfile contains more than 117,500 articles on a wide range of computing topics. In addition to articles published between 1951 and 2000, ACM has also opened related and supplemental materials including data sets, software, slides, audio recordings, and videos.

Free Trial

30 day trials are available for institutions interested in evaluating the ACM DL. Apply Here

ACM Books Collections I & II Now Available

ACM is excited to announce the availability of the complete ACM Books Collection II. Collections I and II have 25 titles each and are available via a one-time purchase model with perpetual access rights.