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Open Access: Publishing

Before Publishing Open Access

Note: Before Publishing OA, Think About Funding!

Most Open Access publishing options incur Article Processing Charges (APC's) which are expected to be paid in full before the work is published.

Planning ahead for APCs is critical to successfully publishing open access, and preventing authors from being on the hook for paying these out of pocket.

Recommendations for addressing APCs:

  • Consider your chosen publisher carefully and weigh the benefits of a higher cost, higher impact journal over a lower cost option
  • If you are applying for a grant, you must include your estimated APC in the grant application itself!
    • Most grants will not allow you to use extra funding to cover APCs unless they were outlined in the original documentation
  • Some traditional publishers allow you to also publish open access in a secondary resource such as a repository like WyoScholar

If you have any concerns or want personalized assistance, please contact Sierra Pandy, the Scholarly Communications and Open Publishing Librarian, at spandy@uwyo.edu for a consultation.

Terms to Know

Open Access: academic publications that are free to read and often have various re-use rights

Article Processing Charge (APC): A fee charged to the author, institution, or funder to cover the cost of an article. This fee is in lieu of charging subscriptions to read the article. 

Hybrid Journal: A type of journal in which some articles are published Open Access and others articles or not. Hybrid journals are typically longstanding journals that provide an Open Access option, and charge subscription fees.

Toll access journal: A journal that requires payment to access the scholarly content 

Gold Open Access: Journals or articles that are Open Access at the time of publication whether with or without an APC

Article Processing Charge (APC)

Open Access journals do not charge subscriptions to libraries or individuals, instead, any associated fees are charged to authors publishing with them. These charges are known as Article Processing Charges, or APC's.

Not all Open Access journals or publishers will charge APC's, but researching beforehand can be critical. You will most commonly find article processing charges when publishing in a scientific journal or a hybrid journal. 

UW's Transformative Agreement Options

The University of Wyoming offers multiple Transformative Agreements available to UW faculty and students. These agreements are continuing to expand and are unique for each publisher. If you have any further questions about Transformative Agreements, please contact Denis Shannon at denis.shannon@uwyo.edu

 

Company of Biologists – The University of Wyoming Libraries’ agreement with the Company of Biologists allow UW authors to publish their work for free in Company of Biologists’ journals. There is no limit on the number of articles that can be published for free in a given year. 

Cambridge University Press – More than 350 CUP journals participate in this agreement. For a full list of journals, please click here. UW authors can publish their work in these journals without incurring an APC. There is no limit on the number of articles that can be freely published in a given year.

IOP Publishing – More than 70 journals participate in this agreement. For a full list of titles, please click here. UW authors can publish their work in these journals without incurring an APC. There is no limit on the number of articles that can be freely published in a given year.

Microbiology Society – The following journals are covered under this agreement: Microbiology, Journal of General Virology, Journal of Medical Microbiology, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, Microbial Genomics, and Access Microbiology. UW authors can publish an unlimited number of articles per year without incurring an APC in these journals.

Benefits of publishing Openly

There are a number of benefits to choosing to publish in an Open Access journal, such as:

  • Open Access publications have a citation advantage and be cited more around the world
  • Your research will be more discoverable to your colleagues, students, and anyone regardless if they belong to an institution that subscribes to a particular journal
  • Open Access journals typically have more rapid publication cycles
  • You will keep your copyright! More Open Access journals will ask for a license to publish and to publish utilizing a CC-license, but you will retain the full copyright to your work and not need to sign a copyright transfer agreement.