Image

The UMass Amherst Libraries have announced that a number of journals, as well as a new book by UMass professor of economics Donald W. Katzner, are now available to the university community through open-access.

The Libraries have signed an agreement with the Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP) that provides UMass Amherst readers with access and corresponding authors with fee-free open access publication in all IOPP journals. IOPP is a society-owned publisher of approximately 100 multidisciplinary journals.

Between 2020-2024, UMass Amherst authors published 126 articles with IOPP, 26 of which were with a campus corresponding author. This agreement, covering 2025-27, significantly expands the options available to campus authors to publish open access with publication charges covered by the Libraries.

For information about how to publish open access under the IOPP, contact Christine Turner, scholarly communication librarian, at cturner@umass.edu.

The Libraries have also announced the creation of the Open Journal for Students’ and New Scientists’ Research (OJSSR), a peer-reviewed, open-access academic research journal that empowers undergraduate, ambitious high school students and beginning scientists to go beyond the classroom and engage in real-world, data-driven primary and secondary research and publication.

The inaugural OJSSR editorial board consists of founding editor Jedaidah Chilufya-Scalessa, lecturer of biology, and executive editors Dong Wang, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Favorite Iradukunda, assistant professor of nursing.

OJSSR welcomes submissions in biological and life sciences, public health and education research, including:

• Original research articles
• Short studies and lab-based projects
• Scientific literature reviews
• Class-based or summer program individual research reports 

Early submissions are welcome, and author guidelines can be found here.

Image

Finally, the Libraries also announced the publication of  “The Theoretical Essentials of Intermediate Microeconomics,” Katzner’s new open-access book, which presents a clear and uncluttered discussion centered on the basic theoretical ideas, arguments and interrelationships that constitute the traditional explanation of the workings of the perfectly competitive microeconomy. 

Katzner intends the book to be a useful resource that summarizes the main theoretical elements of intermediate microeconomics in a way that makes the underlying methodological and theoretical issues more transparent to the reader. Topical coverage includes the theory of the consumer, the theory of the firm, the theory of markets, general equilibrium, welfare, monopoly, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, externalities and public goods.

“The Theoretical Essentials of Intermediate Microeconomics” is available as a PDF download on the Libraries website.