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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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