What Are the Funding Options for Open Access Publishing?

 [Approximate Reading Time : 4 mins]

Gold open access publishing has an article publishing charge or APC as its primary source of revenue. It shifts the financial burden from readers to the authors who desire to publish their research. A common OA myth is that all OA journals charge an APC. However, the APC is not charged by all open access journals, and when they do, authors do not always have to pay. This is possible because of the availability of OA funding and OA grants by various institutions, organizations, funders, and societies who make open access publishing a priority.

Where to find relevant funding sources?

The first step is to find an OA journal that suits your research. Make use of journal searching tools and also check the journal’s credibility by looking it up in various lists such as the Directory of Open Access Publishing (DOAJ). This way you can escape from predatory journals.

The journal website is often very helpful and allows you to check for funds that your paper is eligible for. Researchers affiliated with universities can inquire about the various funding options that they can apply for through the institution in the respective libraries. Once something clicks, check for compatibility issues with the OA publishing funding policies of the journal and then apply. If denied, you can contact your organization, make the necessary changes, and then apply again.

What are the main funding options?

• National/international funding bodies: Many funders allow authors to use their research grants for OA publishing charges. Funding organizations that mandate OA publishing reimburse open access costs, and the costs are often budgeted in the funding applications themselves.
• OA publishing agreements: OA publishers partner with institutions and work out agreements that reduce/cancel the APC for OA publications.
• Institutional funds and memberships: Institutions may have a central fund or memberships with publishers that bear the full cost of OA publishing. Departmental or faculty funds can also be used at times to cover the APC.
• Waivers and discounts: Authors with primary affiliations in low-income or lower-middle-income economic countries can avail of discounts or waivers from some publishers. Besides these, they also consider requests from authors with insufficient funds.

Open access monographs are significant in humanities and the social sciences. OA book publishing is in its early stages and is mostly only supported by scholarly institutions. Support for publishing in hybrid OA journals is divided, as the scholarly community has to pay for both OA and subscription. APC funding is often collected and paid via multiple funding sources. The availability of funds and funder mandates directly impact the journal choice of the author. Sufficient funds allow them to choose APC-OA journals freely. Though authors seek the help of institutions for funding resources, they rely much more on publishers and websites to find the best option.

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Sources:
1. https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/publishing-open-access/oa-funding-options/.
2. https://www.openaccess.nl/en/what-is-open-access/funding.
3. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-file-manager/file/5df9f6f105940e983a96617c/An-Author-Guide-to-Paying-an-Article-Processing-Charge-WEB.pdf#:~:text=The%20costs%20of%20publishing%20Gold%20Open%20Access%20%28OA%29,process%20begins%20after%20an%20article%20has%20been%20accepted.