RSP - OA

When do you have to pay to publish?

When you work with a publisher to share your research, there is work that is done by the publisher including peer review, formatting, advertising etc.

Historically, publishers were paid for this work by those accessing the research; either by readers going through a paywall or institutional subscriptions, like those the university has.

As the research landscape switches to make research open, this payment model has flipped such that the author pays the publisher to make the work available rather than the reader. This author-payment is usually called a Article / Book / Chapter Processing Charge (or APC / BPC / CPC).

As such, when you publish Open Access (unless it's with a Diamond journal/publisher), you will often need to pay. Some journals also have additional fees like Page Charges (for articles that exceed certain lengths), Colour Charges (for articles with colour images) and Submission Charges. The University does not support these additional charges and therefore have no provision to pay them

Open Access costs are becoming more common in publishing, but the University would still never expect researchers to pay these costs themselves. As a result, there is a variety of support available:

Read and Publish Agreements / Transitional Agreements

The university has agreements with various publishers that allow Open Access publishing at no further cost for articles with a Coventry University corresponding author.

UKRI Block Grant / Longform Publication Funding

If you are funded by any UKRI Research Council, including Innovate UK or Research England, you could be eligible for Open Access funding from the UKRI. The Block Grant supports Open Access costs for journal articles and conference papers, while applications can be made for funding to support Open Access longform publications.

Funder Open Access Support

If your Research is funded by NIHR or the Wellcome Trust, you can apply directly to the funder for support to make your work Open Access. Note that this will only apply to in-scope publications.

Coventry University Open Access Fund / Internal Fund

Researchers aligned to a research centre can apply for funds to make their work Open Access. Support from this fund cannot be confirmed until after a successful application, and as such, you are encouraged to make your applications either ahead of submission for Open Access only journals/publishers, or at acceptance for Hybrid journals/publishers.