Funding for ‘Gold’ Open Access – Article Processing Charges
When publishing ‘gold’ Open Access, publishers may request an Article Processing Charge (APC) to cover publication costs. If there is a justifiable need for your research to be ‘gold’ Open Access, there may be different funding routes available to you:
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You can request funding for Gold Open Access by completing the form below:
“I request support for Gold Open Access“
Please note the arrangements we have with some publishers (details below) that may reduce or eliminate the costs of ‘Gold’ Open Access.
The University has arrangements in place with a number of publishers that may reduce or eliminate the costs of
‘gold’ Open Access article processing charges (APCs).
You can apply for funding to cover the whole cost of publishing ‘Gold’ Open Access. Please ensure you have the funding approved before committing to publishing ‘Gold’ Open Access.
| Publisher | Arrangement | What you need to do |
| BioMed Central | Articles from SHU corresponding authors receive a 10% discount in BioMed Central. | Please fill out the form “I request support for Gold Open Access“. There is an option on the form to apply for funding based on the best fit journal for your research being an Open Access-only journal, such as those published by BioMed Central.
When you are submitting your article to BioMed Central, you will need a code which will be supplied by the Library Research Support team on approval for funding. |
| Royal Society of Chemistry | SHU authors receive a 15% discount on article processing charges when publishing ‘Gold’ Open Access in hybrid journals from the RSC. The discount does not apply to fully gold open access journals; Chemical Science, Nanoscale Advances and RSC Advances. All other RSC journals are hybrid. | Please fill out the form “I request support for Gold Open Access” to apply for funding in any RSC journal.
In order to take advantage of this arrangement, please make sure your institutional affiliation is clear and you are advised to use your University email address. |
| Sage | SHU authors pay a reduced article processing charge of £200+VAT when publishing ‘Gold’ Open Access with Sage. This applies to titles in the Sage Choice Scheme and Sage Premier 2018. | Please fill out the form “I request support for Gold Open Access” to apply for funding to cover the reduced cost. There is an option on the form to apply based on this deal.
To obtain the reduced rate, please indicate that you are entitled to the reduction by entering the code NESLi2017 in the ‘University/Institution Account Code’ field when initially applying for the SAGE Choice option. Return the SAGE Choice Invoice Template to the relevant email address at SAGE as instructed on the form. The discount cannot be applied retrospectively so please make sure you use the code. If you wish to publish ‘Gold’ Open Access in a Sage journal not covered by this, deal please use the form to apply for funding for the full APC. |
| Springer Open Choice | Articles from SHU corresponding authors that are publishing in Springer hybrid journals can be made available via ‘gold’ Open Access. A list of the eligible Open Choice hybrid journals is available on the OA agreement for UK authors site.
The following article types are covered: original paper/research paper, review paper , brief communication, continuing education. Please note that 30 Springer Open Choice journals are not included and that Nature Research, Palgrave and Springer Nature are not covered by the Library’s special arrangements. |
There is no need to request support to publish in one of the eligible Open Choice journals, this is free to SHU corresponding authors.
In order to take advantage of this arrangement, please make sure your institutional affiliation is clear and you are advised to use your University email address. If you wish to publish ‘Gold’ Open Access in a Springer Open Choice journal not covered by this, deal please use the form “I request support for Gold Open Access“to apply for funding for the full APC. |
| Springer Open | SHU corresponding authors receive a 10% discount when publishing ‘Gold’ Open Access in SpringerOpen Journals.
Please note that Nature Research, Palgrave and Springer Nature are not covered by the Library’s special arrangements. |
Please fill out the form “I request support for Gold Open Access“.
When you are submitting your article to a Springer Open journal, you will need a code which will be supplied by the Library Research Support team on approval for funding. |
| Taylor & Francis | SHU authors pay a reduced article processing charge of £450+VAT when publishing ‘Gold’ Open Access in eligible Taylor & Francis hybrid journals. | Please fill out the form “I request support for Gold Open Access” to apply for funding to cover the reduced cost. There is an option on the form to apply based on this deal.
In order to take advantage of this arrangement, please make sure your institutional affiliation is clear and you are advised to use your University email address. If you wish to publish ‘Gold’ Open Access in a Taylor& Francis journal not covered by this deal, please use the form to apply for funding for the full APC. |
Some funders (such as NIHR) have their own agreements with publishers.
All peer-reviewed research articles arising from research funded by one of the 7 Research Councils and published in academic journals or conference proceedings must be made Open Access. Please see our page on Funder Open Access requirements for more details about the requirements and the ‘Gold’ and ‘Green’ options. The University receives money from the UKRI to support ‘Gold’ Open Access and you can apply by completing the form “I request support for Gold Open Access” and sending it to the Library Research Support Team as directed on the form.
The SHU Open Access Fund is available to support ‘Gold’ Open Access publication of research from SHU authors.
Please apply by completing the form “I request support for Gold Open Access” and sending it to your Unit of Assessment Coordinator or to the Library Research Support Team as directed on the form.
Application criteria
You can apply for funding to kick-start your research career, or to support Open Access for your research output for other reasons.
Criteria under which you can make a case include:
- your research is funded by UKRI (previously RCUK).
- your article is to be submitted to a journal published by Sage or Taylor & Francis which offers substantially reduced APCs for SHU authors.
- career kick start for early career researchers and maternity, adoption and/or parental leave returners.
- your work is likely to contribute to the next REF submission.
- the best fit journal for your research is an Open-Access-only journal
- the research findings are likely to be high profile or impactful in terms of news coverage and public interest.
- your research output aligns with the UK Global Challenges Research Fund or the UK Industrial Strategy.
- your research output is a monograph or monograph chapter.
More details are on the application form.
Given the limits to our resources, both the research and the journal you wish to submit your work to must meet certain quality criteria to be eligible for funding for ‘Gold’ Open Access. If you are applying under the ‘Career kick-start’ or under the REF criteria, part of the approval process will be an assessment by the appropriate Unit of Assessment Co-ordinator. Please see the application form for more details.
If you publish your work in a ‘Gold’ Open Access journal, your research will usually be distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons License. This is used to grant certain permissions to the readers of your work. Your funder may require your work to be distributed under a particular Creative Commons licence (see: Funder Open access requirements). For example, if you have Research Council funding, your work must be published with a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC-BY). Please contact the Library Research Support Team (library-research-support@shu.ac.uk) if you are unsure of your funder requirements.
Some journals charge an additional or higher fee for publishing under a CC-BY licence. If you are requesting support for gold Open Access via your Unit of Assessment Coordinator and your funder requires your work to be distributed under a CC-BY licence, you can include any additional charge for this in your application.
It is important to be aware that some journals and publishers operate an exploitative business model (sometimes known as ‘predatory’) by charging Article Processing Charges without providing proper editorial and publishing services, such as peer review. The journals therefore lack academic rigour and credibility.
We recommend that you check that any journal is trustworthy and high quality, before submitting your work.
- the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) lists reputable Open Access journals.
- have a look at our pages on how to check the trustworthiness of a journal.
- discuss it with your supervisor or with the Library Research Support Team.
Email: library-research-support@shu.ac.uk Phone: 0114 225 3852
