Blog Archives
Paying for open access: how much will it cost?
FAQ: How do I find out whether a journal has an option for immediate open access and if so, how much it will cost?
Does your proposed funder require immediate open access to all research outputs?
Do you need to include the cost of APCs in your bid?
Do you need to make sure your work has the earliest possible visibility and impact?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes then you will need to know whether any journal you choose to publish in offers an immediate (‘gold’) open access option and if so, how much it will cost.
Open Access at the University of Northampton: state of play
Since 2007 Library and Learning Services have been offering services to researchers wishing to engage with the Open Access (OA) agenda. This post summarises the policy, services and support now available at the University of Northampton.
Open Access policy:
In December 2015 the University Research and Enterprise Committee approved an OA policy for the University. Aligned with, and supporting, HEFCE’s open access policy for the REF, the University policy states: “the University supports the principle of open access and expects researchers to share their research outputs freely, subject to legal, ethical, commercial or contractual constraints”. The policy requires researchers to ‘act on acceptance‘ in depositing their work in the University’s institutional repository, NECTAR.
University Open Access Fund
FAQ: Does the University have any funds available to pay publishers’ article processing charges (APCs) and if so, how can I apply for these?
As of August 1st 2016 the University of Northampton has set aside an Open Access (OA) fund to support the payment of article processing charges (APCs).
APCs are the charges levied by publishers to cover the cost of making an individual article OA at the point of publication (aka ‘gold’ OA). This may be in a fully OA journal or in a ‘hybrid’ journal which makes otherwise subscription only articles available OA on payment of an APC.
Open access and your published paper: a guide for authors
FAQ: I have just had an article accepted for publication and I’m unsure of my open access options. What should I do?
With multiple publishing options and a host of sometimes conflicting institutional, funder and publisher requirements, the pathway to open access can sometimes be a confusing one. The guide below is designed to help you navigate the route between having your article accepted for publication and making it open access in an appropriate and timely manner.
The guide covers both ‘green’ and ‘gold’ routes to open access and includes the University’s procedure for handling article processing charges (APCs).
Wellcome Trust takes publishers to task
The Wellcome Trust has long had an open access policy, expecting all the authors that they fund to make their published outputs available immediately upon publication in an open access form.
However, in recent years they have stepped up their compliance monitoring, not only of their authors’ publishing behaviours, but also of the publishers’ practices subsequent to publication.
This post, published this week, analyses Wellcome Trust open access spending for the year 2013-2014. It makes fascinating reading.
Should you trust that publisher?
It has been a bit of a week (already) for publishers of dubious intent to clutter my Inbox.
I must clearly be a researcher of world leading renown (not) to be so sought after. SciencePG has this very morning invited me not only to propose a special issue of a journal but to guest edit it too! Yesterday it was a different publisher and I have no doubt there will be further invitations coming along soon.
Some of these publishers appear to be very plausible. They offer open access, short lead times, ‘free’ submission and they may even allow me to retain my own copyright. So far so good. The sting in the tail comes from the large fees demanded on publication, the absence of any rigorous peer review process and the poor quality of the dissemination. Read the rest of this entry
Meeting funders’ open access requirements – your views needed
Would you like to be submitted to the next REF?
Are you likely to bid for Research Council funding?
If the answer to either of those questions is ‘Yes’ then you may already know that you will be expected to publish your research articles, and maybe even your data, in an ‘open access’ manner (HEFCE, RCUK) .
But do you know how to go about doing this? Do you have any concerns about it? Do you need any help?
Finding an open access journal for your article
FAQ: How can I find a suitable open access journal in which to publish my work?
Perhaps your funder expects you to publish your work in an open access journal, or you’d like to enjoy the citation advantage of making your work open access, but you’re not sure where to start. Here are a few things to think about.
UON Graduate School Blog 