York Open Access Fund
The York Open Access Fund supports staff and postgraduate researchers at the University of York to publish their research findings in open access journals and books, through the payment of article processing charges (APCs) and book processing charges (BPCs).
The Fund comprises institutional open access funds (open to all researchers affiliated with University of York) as well as open access funding from UK Research & Innovation and Wellcome Trust to pay for publication of the research that they have funded.
Before requesting funding through the York Open Access Fund, please consider whether your output may be eligible for open access publication at no additional cost through one of our open access publishing agreements.
Institutional Open Access Fund Pilot
From 28th October 2022 the Library is piloting an institutional open access fund. This fund is open to all York-affiliated staff and research postgraduates, and will expand the opportunity to publish articles and books in open access journals or through open access platforms and publishers. Full criteria are given below.
We would like to know what you think of the fund and the criteria, so if you have any comments or suggestion please get in touch with us in the open access team.
Institutional open access fund
University of York is committed to the values, principles and culture of open research, as set out in our open research statement. The institutional open access fund reflects this commitment by supporting York researchers to publish their articles, books and chapters with open access journals or publishers.
The fund is available to support open access publishing by University of York researchers who cannot draw on other funding sources to meet these costs. Specifically, it covers members of staff and postgraduate researchers whose research is not funded, or whose research funder will not pay open access publishing costs.
Research articles
The fund can pay article processing charges (APCs) for research articles accepted for publication in an open access journal, publication platform or conference proceeding.
- The fund is for articles and conference proceedings not eligible for support from the UKRI or Wellcome open access block grants or where those publishing costs cannot be paid from research grants.
- Applications are welcome from any member of staff or postgraduate researcher affiliated to University of York, providing the University of York will be given as the institutional affiliation on the published work.
- The journal, platform or proceedings for which the article has been accepted must be fully open access and listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
- Articles must be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence and include a data access statement giving a link to underlying data and code in a repository where appropriate.
- The fund will not cover fees for articles that have been solicited or commissioned by the publisher.
- The journal must meet the usual standards of quality and peer review for scholarly communication. Payments will not be made to suspected predatory publishers / journals.
- The APC cost must be fair and reasonable.The maximum payment per article will normally be £3,000 excluding VAT.*
- Other costs sometimes associated with publishing such as page charges, colour charges and submission fees are not considered to be reasonable and will not be covered by this fund
* Different publishers and platforms offer a different range of services, and there is no set value for what is considered a reasonable APC. It is often the case that more ‘prestigious’ journals charge higher APCs, but there is little evidence to explain why this should be the case. APCs above the £3,000 threshold may be considered in exceptional circumstances where there is a justification for the higher cost.
Books and book chapters
The fund can pay book processing charges (BPCs) for open access monographs, edited collections, textbooks or individual chapters which will be published in an open access book.
- Book processing charges (BPCs) will only be paid for fully open access publishers (for example our own White Rose University Press), or publishers who have a clear commitment to sustainable open access. Excessive charges will not be supported from the fund.
- Fees to publish open access book chapters will only be paid where the entire publication will be open access.
- The work should be published with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence, though where necessary other Creative Commons licences may be used.
- The fund is for publications ineligible for support from the UKRI and Wellcome OA block grants or unable to deduct publishing costs from their research grants.
- Applications are welcome from any member of staff or PGR affiliated with the University of York at the time the publishing agreement is signed, providing the University of York will be given as the institutional affiliation on the published work.
Other open access funds
In addition to the Institutional Open Access Fund, the York Open Access Fund manages funds provided by external organisations, each of which have eligibility requirements:
UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) provides funding to the University to promote open access to the outputs of UKRI-funded research, and to support UKRI-funded researchers in meeting the requirements of the UKRI open access policy. This funding is managed through the York Open Access Fund.
Funding for open access publication is allocated based on the conditions and principles set out in the UKRI open access policy and supporting guidance for researchers.
Eligibility criteria
- The output must acknowledge support from one or more of the UKRI research councils.*
- The output must be a peer-reviewed research article accepted for publication in a journal, publication platform or conference proceeding.†
- The host journal, platform or proceedings must be fully open access, or have Jisc-approved transitional journal status. The Plan S Journal Checker Tool can be used to check eligibility and publication routes.
- Articles must be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence and include a data access statement giving a link to underlying data and code in a repository where appropriate.
- The output cannot have been commissioned by the publisher.
- The APC cost must be reasonable.‡
- The author requesting funding should be directly affiliated with the University of York, either as a member of staff or a registered student. The requesting author should usually be a member of the University at the time that the output is submitted for publication.
- The open access fund cannot cover publication costs other than open access APCs. Costs such as colour figure charges, page charges, or cover image charges cannot be paid from the fund.§
* Outputs from projects funded directly by Research England are eligible to receive funding through the Fund, but support through Research England quality related income does not on its own make an output eligible.
† Funding for open access monographs and book chapters will be available from UKRI from 2024. It may also be possible to pay for these costs from your UKRI award.
‡ Different publishers and platforms offer a different range of services, and there is no set value for what is considered a reasonable APC. The Library and UKRI may refuse payment of an APC if they consider it to be disproportionately expensive. It is often the case that more ‘prestigious’ journals charge higher APCs, but there is little evidence to explain why this should be the case. As a guide, the average cost for an APC at the University of York for 2020-2021 was £2,145.85.
§ Submission fees will usually be eligible for payment if an APC is being paid through the fund, but only if the article is accepted for publication.
The Wellcome Trust provides funding to the University to promote open access to the outputs of Wellcome-funded research, and to support Wellcome-funded researchers in meeting the requirements of the Wellcome open access policy. This funding is managed through the York Open Access Fund.
Funding for open access publication is allocated based on the conditions and principles set out in the Wellcome guide to open access funding.
Eligibility criteria
- The output must acknowledge support from Wellcome Trust.
- The output must be a peer-reviewed research article accepted for publication in a journal or publishing platform.*
- The host journal, platform or proceedings must be fully open access, or have Plan S transitional journal status. The Plan S Journal Checker Tool can be used to check eligibility and publication routes.
- Articles must be published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence and include a data access statement giving a link to underlying data and code in a repository where appropriate.
- The output cannot have been commissioned by the publisher.
- The APC cost must be fair and reasonable.†
- The author requesting funding should be directly affiliated with the University of York, either as a member of staff or a registered student. The requesting author should usually be a member of the University at the time that the output is submitted for publication.
- The open access fund cannot cover publication costs other than open access APCs. Costs such as colour figure charges, page charges, or cover image charges cannot be paid from the fund.‡
* To request funding for open access publication costs for monographs or book chapters acknowledging Wellcome funding, authors should contact Wellcome directly. Further details can be found on the Wellcome guide to open access funding.
† Different publishers and platforms offer a different range of services, and there is no set value for what is considered a reasonable APC. The Library and Wellcome may refuse payment of an APC if they consider it to be disproportionately expensive. It is often the case that more ‘prestigious’ journals charge higher APCs, but there is little evidence to explain why this should be the case. As a guide, the average cost for an APC at the University of York for 2020-2021 was £2,145.85.
‡ Submission fees will usually be eligible for payment if an APC is being paid through the fund, but only if the article is accepted for publication.
Requesting Funding
Any member of staff or postgraduate researcher at University of York can request funding for open access publication costs through the York Open Access Fund.
Before submitting a request, we recommend that you familiarise yourself with the eligibility criteria for the funds available. If you are unsure, submit a request and the Library team will be able to advise on eligibility.
To request funding for journal or conference articles, irrespective of fund, please complete and submit our online payment request form.
Requests can submitted at any time before publication, but we advise that you submit your request as early as is practical so that funding availability can be confirmed and publication will not be delayed. Requests can be submitted before articles are submitted to the journal or publisher. If a request is approved before acceptance of the article but you then find that funding is no longer needed, we just ask that you let us know so that the funds can be released.
FAQs
If outputs acknowledge funding from multiple funders who require, and make funds available for, open access then the cost of publication should be split between those funders. If your output does acknowledge multiple funders, including those acknowledged by coauthors, then you should let us know about this through our request form. Where appropriate we will try to split payments between funds.
For all three funding streams, funding for research articles is allocated on a first-come-first-served basis for eligible publications. This is considered the most equitable approach, and where funding comes from external organisations we are required to take this approach.
Funding for books from the institutional fund is more complicated. Books can vary significantly both in cost and production timescale, and the landscape for open access book publishing is currently more complex with a range of models operating. This all means that there are many factors which we need to consider before agreeing to fund a book. We are keen to work with the York research community to ensure that we are supporting publication in line with the values of open research, so please get in touch with us to discuss any requests.
We are not anticipating that funds will run out this year for any of the three funding streams. Availability of funding is closely monitored by the Library. If it looks likely that available funds will be fully used then the relevant research funders and the University’s Open Research Strategy Group will be asked for guidance and any changes to the fund will be widely communicated.