Article Processing Charges (APCs) and Transitional Agreements

Article Processing Charges (APCs)

Article Processing Charges (APCs) are the dominant funding model for Open Access (OA) publishing, especially amongst commercial publishers. In this model the author (or their surrogate) pays the publisher a fee to get their article published OA. APCs vary in amount, from a few hundred pounds to several thousand, and the most prestigious journals will frequently be the most expensive. Hybrid journals tend to have more expensive APCs than pure OA journals, and some pure OA journals do not charge an APC, rather they will be funded by individual institutions or membership models.

The only dedicated funds for APCs at The Open University are in the form of the UKRI block grant; there is no central provision for APCs other than for articles from UKRI funding. For information on how to access the UKRI block grant please go to the UKRI block grant page.

Transitional agreements

Due to various institutional subscription deals we have with academic publishers, several transitional agreements are available to OU researchers who wish to publish Gold OA (where the final journal article is immediately freely available to read and download on the publisher website). These deals are paid for from Library budgets and allow OU affiliated authors to publish Open Access at no cost to them or at a reduced cost (see individual deals for details). These agreements can change at short notice so please check this page for updates.

Important information about our agreements

The following deals are open to all current OU-affiliated research staff and postgraduate research students (excluding visiting researchers). You must be the corresponding author to benefit from these deals, unless the deal specifically states otherwise. If asked, please state your institutional affiliation with The OU. In most cases, affiliation with The OU will be verified by your institutional email address (open.ac.uk).

The OU prefers outputs to be published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY) licence. This is typically the default licence type applied by the publisher but please check before you proceed. This is also the required licence type if you are funded by UKRI. Publishing under this licence has many benefits in terms of increasing the impact of your work and maximising possibilities for re-use.

We strongly recommend that you contact us to check eligibility before choosing an Open Access licence, as you may be liable for the fee if it is not eligible under the agreement.

Please note the majority of these deals do not cover additional charges for optional extras, such as accelerated publication or colour printing (where these apply), so please check before submission if such charges apply. The author will be responsible for funding these extra costs.

How to search for a journal included in our agreements

Use our SciFree Journal Search Tool to find out if your chosen journal is part of our publishing deals. You can search by journal name, ISSN or keyword. Use this Journal Search Tool in conjunction with the publisher listing below to check if the deal has any restrictions or additional instructions. The tool can also be accessed via our dedicated OU SciFree search page.

PUBLISHER	END DATE	WHO IS ELIGIBLE?	TYPE(S) OF PUBLICATION COVERED	FULLY OA (GOLD) TITLES INCLUDED?	ARTICLE TYPES COVERED	PUBLISHER INFORMATION
American Chemical Society (ACS)	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and Fully OA journals within ACS editions	Yes	All research articles in all ACS journals	Link to ACS publisher information.
American Institute of Physics (AIP)	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	No	Research article only	Link to AIP publisher information.
American Physical Society (APS)	30th June 2023 - extended until further notice	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	No	Included but not limited to: Regular Articles, Letters, Rapid Communications, Reviews, Perspectives, and Short Papers.	Link to APS publisher information.
Annual Reviews	31st December 2025	Article authorship is by invitation only	Hybrid	Yes	All	Link to Annual Reviews publisher information.
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)	31st December 2025	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	All research articles and conference proceedings.	Link to ACM publisher information.
Bentham Science	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	Hybrid and OA	Link to Bentham Science publisher information.
Brill	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	Research, review articles and conference papers	Link to Brill publisher information.
Bristol University Press/Policy Press	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	No	Original peer-reviewed research.	Link to Bristol University Press publisher information.
Cambridge University Press	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	Research, review articles and rapid communications, Plus Brief Report and Case reports.	Link to Cambridge University Press publisher information.
Company of Biologists	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	All	Link to Company of Biologists publisher information.
De Gruyter	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	No	All	Link to De Gruyter publisher information.
Elsevier	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	Hybrid (Core, Cell Press & The Lancet).	Yes (see further details in the fully Gold OA table)	Core hybrid: Research and Review articles. Case Reports / Data in Brief / Microarticle / Original Software Publication / Protocol / Replication Study / Short Communication / Short Survey / Video Article / Practice Guideline Cell Press: some exceptions apply. The Lancet: some exceptions apply.	Link to Elsevier publisher information.
Future Science Group	31st December 2023	Corresponding or co-authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	All types excluding Drug Evaluation articles	Link to Future Science Group publisher information.
Geological Society	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	No	All	Link to Geological Society publisher information.
Institue of Physics (IOP)	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and some fully OA	Some - see list of eligible journals		Link to Institute of Physics publisher information.
IWA Publishing	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	Subscribe to open and OA	Yes	All	Link to IWA publisher information.
John Benjamins	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	No	Research articles	Link to John Benjamins publisher information.
JMIR Publications	31st March 2024	Corresponding authors Submissions should include your OU affiliation, OU email and mention in cover letter "requesting APC waiver via the Open-JMIR unlimited OA publishing deal".	Fully OA	Yes	All	Link to JMIR publisher information.
Optica Publishing Group	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	Research and Review articles	Link to Optica publisher information.
Oxford University Press	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	Research and Review articles	Link to Oxford University Press publisher information.
PLOS	31st December 2023	Corresponding and contributing authors	Fully OA	Yes	Research articles	Link to PLOS publisher information.
Portland Press	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	All	Link to Portland Press publisher information.
Rockefeller University Press	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	No	All	Link to Rockefeller University Press.
Royal Society	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	All	Link to Royal Society publisher information.
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	Yes (see further details in the fully Gold OA table)	All peer reviewed types including: full papers, communications and reviews.	Link to RSC publisher information.
SAGE	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	No	Research, Review, Brief Communications, Short Reports, Case Studies.	Link to SAGE publisher information.
SPIE	30th June 2024	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	All	Link to SPIE Publisher information.
Springer Nature	31st December 2025	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	No	Springer: Original papers, review papers, brief communications and continuing education. Nature: research articles incl. analysis, brief communications, registered reports, technical reports.	Link to Springer Nature publisher information.
Taylor and Francis	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid	No	Article, review, research and review articles, report, short communication, case report, note, original article, guest editorial.	Link to Taylor and Francis publisher information.
Wiley	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	Hybrid and OA	Yes	Primary research and review types.	Link to Wiley publisher information.
World Scientific Publishing	31st December 2023	Corresponding authors	WSPC owned subscription journals	No	Research and review types.	Link to World Scientific publisher information.

The following table outlines the publishers that we have discounted Open Access deals with:

PUBLISHER	END DATE OF AGREEMENT	WHO IS ELIGBLE?	TYPE(S) OF PUBLICATION COVERED	DISCOUNTED RATE	ARTICLE TYPES COVERED	PUBLISHER INFORMATION
Elsevier	31st December 2024	Corresponding authors	All Gold OA journals.	15%	All	Link to Elsevier publisher information.
Equinox	31st December 2025	Corresponding authors	All Gold OA journals.	20-55%	All	Link to Equinox publisher information.
MDPI	31st December 2023	Corresponding and co-authors	All Gold OA journals.	10%	All	Link to MDPI publisher information.
Royal Society of Chemistry	31st December 2024	Corresponding	All Gold OA journals.	15%	All peer reviewed types including: full papers, communications and reviews.	Link to RSC publisher information.

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Article Processing Charges (APCs) and Transitional Agreements

Article Processing Charges (APCs)

Transitional agreements

Important information about our agreements

How to search for a journal included in our agreements

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