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.
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.
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.
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 |
|
American Institute of Physics (AIP) |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid |
No |
Research article only |
|
American Physical Society (APS) |
30th June 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid |
No |
Included but not limited to: Regular Articles, Letters, Rapid Communications, Reviews, Perspectives, and Short Papers. |
|
Annual Reviews |
31st December 2025 |
Article authorship is by invitation only |
Hybrid |
Yes |
All |
|
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) |
31st December 2025 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
All research articles and conference proceedings. |
|
Bentham Science |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
Hybrid and OA |
|
Brill |
31st December 2024 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
Research, review articles and conference papers |
|
Bristol University Press/Policy Press |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid |
No |
Original peer-reviewed research. |
|
Cambridge University Press |
31st December 2024 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
Research, review articles and rapid communications, Plus Brief Report and Case reports. |
|
Company of Biologists |
31st December 2024 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
All |
|
De Gruyter |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid |
No |
All |
|
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. |
|
Future Science Group |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding or co-authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
All types excluding Drug Evaluation articles |
|
Geological Society |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid |
No |
All |
|
Institue of Physics (IOP) |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and some fully OA |
Some - see list of eligible journals |
|
|
IWA Publishing |
31st December 2024 |
Corresponding authors |
Subscribe to open and OA |
Yes |
All |
|
John Benjamins |
31st December 2024 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid |
No |
Research articles |
|
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 |
|
Optica Publishing Group |
31st December 2024 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
Research and Review articles |
|
Oxford University Press |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
Research and Review articles |
|
PLOS |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding and contributing authors |
Fully OA |
Yes |
Research articles |
|
Portland Press |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
All |
|
Rockefeller University Press |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid |
No |
All |
|
Royal Society |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
All |
|
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. |
|
SAGE |
31st December 2024 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid |
No |
Research, Review, Brief Communications, Short Reports, Case Studies. |
|
SPIE |
30th June 2024 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
All |
|
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. |
|
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. |
|
Wiley |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
Hybrid and OA |
Yes |
Primary research and review types. |
|
World Scientific Publishing |
31st December 2023 |
Corresponding authors |
WSPC owned subscription journals |
No |
Research and review types. |
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. |