UNAM Joins AIP Fusion Open Science Publishing Model

AIP Publishing (AIPP) has signed a new agreement with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) to incorporate the institution into AIP Fusion, its services-based reading and publishing model. With the agreement, UNAM becomes the first institutional consortium to participate in AIP Fusion, marking an expansion of the model beyond the European Union and North America.

Under the three-year agreement, which runs from 2026 through 2028, researchers across 18 UNAM campuses will receive unlimited access to AIP Publishing journals and selected partner titles. The arrangement also allows UNAM researchers to publish open access in all participating journals without paying article processing charges, a cost that has been a barrier for many institutions and authors.

The agreement was established with the support of KGL Accucoms, AIP Publishing’s regional partner, and aligns with AIPP’s broader transition toward open science frameworks that emphasize transparency, sustainability, and predictable costs for institutions. AIP Fusion was launched as a pilot in 2025 and is designed to move away from the traditional per-article payment system. Instead, it offers comprehensive access to publishing and content services through a single annual fee, with pricing informed by publishing output and usage data.

According to AIP Publishing, the model was developed in consultation with libraries and consortia to address challenges created by evolving research funding environments and growing demand for open access. By combining reading and publishing services, AIP Fusion aims to simplify agreements while supporting long-term planning for academic institutions.

UNAM officials framed the agreement as part of a broader effort to expand access to scientific knowledge. Antonio Sánchez, Head of the Latin American Bibliography Department, UNAM’s General Directorate of Libraries, says the model supports the university’s commitment to open science by allowing research outputs to be shared globally without financial or geographic limitations.

AIP Publishing says that UNAM’s participation provides an early example of how the model can be applied in diverse research systems. Kevin Steiner, Head of Global Sales, AIP Publishing, says the agreement strengthens the initiative’s international foundation and reflects the need for publishing solutions that accommodate different institutional contexts.

UNAM is the largest research and higher education institution in Latin America, with a mandate that includes education, research, and the dissemination of culture. Its entry into AIP Fusion positions Latin American research more visibly within international scientific exchange and may serve as a reference point for other institutions in the region considering alternative open access models.

AIP Publishing, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the American Institute of Physics, says that AIP Fusion reflects its mission to remove barriers to research communication while providing stable pathways for institutions navigating changes in scholarly publishing. The UNAM agreement represents one of the first large-scale applications of that strategy outside the publisher’s traditional markets.

The agreement also builds on a prior collaboration between AIP Publishing and UNAM. In 2023, the two institutions signed a three-year Read & Publish agreement, the publisher’s first in Latin America, which expanded access to AIP Publishing journals and enabled open access publishing in selected titles with article processing charges managed by the UNAM library. As that agreement concludes in 2025, UNAM’s participation in AIP Fusion represents a shift toward a services-based model that removes APCs entirely while extending open access publishing across all participating titles.

"Open access publishing allows authors to expand the impact of their published results, and we are proud to be a part of that growing movement," says Penelope Lewis, Chief Publishing Officer, AIPP, in 2023."We are excited to partner with UNAM to help foster discoveries worldwide. We look forward to this agreement being the first of many within Latin America."