Article Processing Charges (APCs) and Transitional Agreements

On this page you will find:

• Introductory information about APCs and Transitional Agreements
• SciFree Journal Search Tool
• Transitional agreements list
• APC discounts list

Article Processing Charges (APCs)

Article Processing Charges (APCs) are the most widely used funding model for Gold Open Access (OA) journal publishing. In this model, the author (or their institution) pays the publisher a fee to get the final version of their article published OA.

APCs vary from a few hundred to several thousand pounds. The most prestigious journals are often the most expensive.

Journals that charge APCs may be fully OA or Hybrid.

• Fully OA journals – every article in every issue charges an APC and is published Gold OA.
• Hybrid journals – the reader (or institution) pays to read articles. Alternatively the author chooses to pay an APC for their specific article to be published as Gold OA. Hybrid journals tend to have more expensive APCs than fully OA journals.

The only dedicated funds for APCs at The Open University are from the UKRI block grant. There is no central provision for APCs other than from UKRI funding.

For long-form publications different Gold OA fees apply, for example Book Processing Charges (BPCs). For more information please go to the UKRI long-form publications fund page.

Transitional agreements

The OU Library purchases multiple journals as part of large agreements with publishers. Some of these agreements are transitioning from a traditional (pay to read) subscription model to a fully Gold OA (pay to publish) model.

This means library funds that once paid for OU students and staff to access journals are being redirected to pay APCs. These APCs allow OU-affiliated authors to publish OA at no cost to them or at a reduced cost. Anyone anywhere in the world is then able to access these articles for free.

You will find on this page a list of the transitional agreements and APC discounts available to OU researchers. These agreements can change at short notice so please check this page for updates.

Our agreements may not cover the APCs for articles published in special issues. Please contact the Research Support Team for advice.

Eligibility

Eligibility to publish via an OU transitional agreement revolves around the identity of the corresponding author.

The corresponding author is the primary contact for the publisher during the submission, peer review, and publication process of a manuscript. If your research has multiple authors, you must choose one author to be the corresponding author. If you would like to benefit from an OU transitional agreement, then the corresponding author must be an OU-affiliated member of research staff (excludes visiting and honorary roles), a current postgraduate student or an emeritus professor.

Please use your instititional email address (@open.ac.uk) when using The OU's transitional agreements. Your affiliation with The OU will be verified by your institutional email address (@open.ac.uk).

Eligibility information for Scholarship Project members

If you are publishing from a Scholarship project that was supported be one of the Scholarship Centres or pan university funding and are not a OU-affiliated member of research staff please contact your Scholarship Centre or the central scholarship mailbox to discuss the available options. 

Important eligibility information for UKRI-funded researchers

If you have pending publications for UKRI-funded research and you are leaving The OU or moving to an Associate Lecturer or visiting role within The OU, please contact the Research Support Team to discuss the options for funding your APC.

Licences

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.

Additional charges

Please note the majority of these deals do not cover additional charges for optional extras, such as accelerated publication, overlength fees 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.

Search for a journal in our transitional agreements

Use our SciFree Journal Search Tool to find out if your chosen journal is part of our publishing deals. You can search by journal name, ISSN, keyword or subject area. Use this Journal Search Tool in conjunction with the publisher listing below to check if the deal has any restrictions or additional instructions. The tool can also be accessed via our dedicated OU SciFree search page.

List of OU transitional agreements

Publisher APC discounts

Some publishers whose transitional agreements only cover publication in hybrid journals offer a discount on APCs for their Fully OA titles.