UO Libraries Open Access Article & Book Processing Charge (OA-APC & BPC) Award Fund, renewed and updated for 2022-23

During the 2020-21 year, the University of Oregon Libraries, in collaboration with the UO Senate Subcommittee on Open Access, launched an Article Processing Charge Award to all UO researchers publishing in Open Access Journals. It has been renewed again for 2022-23, with an additional fund to support the publication of Open Access Books (launched in 2021-22).

As more high-quality journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences turn to an article-fee based Open Access publishing model, researchers are encountering a new financial barrier to publishing: the Article Processing Charge (APC). Yet, Open Access publishing provides much greater access to research in a way that subscription-fee based publishing cannot, and the UO Libraries is pursuing many ways to support high-quality Open Access publishing efforts, including this Article Processing Charge Award.

The OA-APC and Book Processing Charge (BPC) Fund is intended to support high-quality open access publishing by the UO community.

Funding Available for Open Access Publishing (UO OA-APC Fund)

  • Up to $2,000 per UO researcher per funding year to support the publication of Open Access Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles or Books, until funding runs out (other publication formats may be considered on a case-by-case basis)
  • Requests for more than $2,000 for an APC can be made if there are multiple UO researchers listed as authors on the publication
  • UO researchers may spread their potential allotment out over multiple requests


Funding Available for OA Books (UO OA-BPC Fund)

  • Up to $5,000* per OA Book per funding year to support the publication of full Open Access books via academic publishers, until funding runs out (*the amount has been increased for FY22-23)
  • The amount does not increase if there are multiple UO researchers listed as authors on the publication; it is a per-item amount
  • UO researchers may combine this award with the general Open Access Fund ("UO OA APC Fund") provided they have not used their potential allotment yet (up to $2,000 per UO researcher per fiscal year), please include all information for your request in a single form
  • This award uses the same funding pool as the UO OA-APC Fund
     

Applicant Guidelines

  • UO researchers includes any current member of the UO faculty, student body, and staff pursuing research for publication.
    • Outside researchers may be co-authors, but not the primary or first author. In the case of an outside researcher being listed as “first” author due solely to the alphabetical listing of authors, please include an explanation.
    • One exception to the first/primary author rule is for UO Alumni who are the first/primary author, if the applicant is a co-author who is a current faculty member, student, or staff member at the UO, and the publication is based upon research done at the UO.
  • UO researchers who are early career will be privileged in the case that more requests are made than can be fully funded. (e.g., students, pre-promotion/tenure TTF and NTTF, etc.) This includes early-career co-authors but especially applies to early career authors who are the first or primary author of an article.
  • Articles and books must be accepted for publication in a qualifying publication before applying for the OA-APC Funds
  • Do not pay fees in advance; the UO Libraries must submit payment directly and cannot reimburse researchers

 

Publication Guidelines

Articles

  • Journals must provide free, immediate, online access to the full text of research articles upon publication without restrictions
  • Eligible journals include those listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals, or publishers that are generally compliant with the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association’s (OASPA) Code of Conduct
  • Journals must be peer-reviewed
  • Journals must make their standard fee schedules publicly accessible
  • Hybrid journals do not qualify (i.e., a journal must be entirely open access, rather than offering “optional-OA” fees. The journal may not charge a subscription fee.)

Books

  • Publishers of books must make a full published version of the book available open access, with no plans to remove the OA version from availability
  • Publishers of books are expected to be academic presses. We cannot fund self-published items.
  • Individual OA chapters in books that are not fully open access do not qualify

Other publications

  • Requests for other OA publications fees not discussed on this page (other than articles and books) will be considered on a case-by-case basis

 

Process

  1. Submit the Article Processing Charge Application.
  2. The UO Libraries OA-APC Fund Committee will review applications as they are submitted. We typically reply within a couple of days.
     

More Information

For questions about the UO Libraries' OA-APC and BPC Funds and application process, email Miriam Rigby, rigby@uoregon.edu
If you have another type of Open Access publishing project (journal, ebook, open educational resources, etc.) for which you would like support, please contact us to discuss options as well.

For more information about recent Open Access work at the UO Libraries, please see:

Acknowledgements

These guidelines were strongly influenced by APC Fund documents from many libraries. Thank you especially to Ally Laird at Penn State University for sharing some specific wording.