Open Access at University of Reading: FAQs

Who can apply for funding?

All staff and students at University of Reading are eligible for the transformative deals offered by publishers. Eligibility for the publisher deals is normally determined using the email address of the corresponding author. Student and staff email addresses are recognised by the publishers during the publication process. 

Authors with UKRI or British Heart Foundation funding wanting to publish in journals that are not included in the publisher deals should apply for funding in advance of submission using the Open Access Request form. 

When should I apply for funding?

In all cases, you should not agree to pay an APC for Open Access without checking first that it will be covered by the Library's Open Access budgets. 

• If the journal that you are publishing in is covered by one of the publisher deals, you do not normally have to apply for funding in advance. Please check the details for each publisher on the relevant tab in the new publishing journal articles open access libguide. The Scifree tool is also very useful for checking which journals are included in deals. 
• For fully Open Access (Gold) journals it is important that you check whether the APC will be covered by a publisher deal or will be eligible to be paid from the UKRI block grant (for funded authors). You must apply for funding before submission. This is because you will be liable for the fee as soon as the paper is accepted. Invoices submitted to the Library Open Access team without a prior request and approval will not be paid. 

Can I apply for funding if the article involves authors from another institution??

• If you are the corresponding author and are now employed by another institution it is unlikely that University of Reading will pay the APC. However, if there are other current University of Reading staff or students on the author list, one of these authors can submit an application for funding (this will not apply to articles in journals covered by publisher deals where it is the institution of the corresponding author that determines eligibility). 
• If the publication relates to work conducted at an author's previous institution, the APC may be covered if the corresponding author uses a University of Reading affiliation. 
• If any of the authors acknowledge UKRI funding, it is expected that their institution should pay the costs. Where more than one author acknowledges UKRI funding, the institution of the corresponding author should pay the cost. If the corresponding author does not acknowledge UKRI funding but other University of Reading authors do, the funded authors should apply for funding for the APC before submission. If there is no relevant UKRI funding, and no other relevant grants, the institution of the corresponding author should be asked about relevant publisher deals or funding before submission so that the authors know whether Open Access is possible for their work.

Can I apply to the University Open Access fund if there is no UKRI or other external funding related to the article?

The University Gold Open Access fund was closed in October 2023. This means that authors without external funding will not be able to submit to fully Open Access (Pure Gold) journals unless they are included in one of our publisher deals. 
Contact oarequests@reading.ac.uk for more information 

Can I (an author) apply to the University's Open Access fund if I am not the PI or lead author?

If you are a UKRI funded author with the grant awarded to University of Reading, we may be able to pay the APC from the UKRI block grant. Apply for funding using the Open Access request form before committing to pay an APC. 

For authors with no external funding, the University's Gold Open Access fund has closed for new applications and so no support will be available. 

If the journal that you are publishing in is part of a transformative agreement with a publisher, only the corresponding author is eligible for Open Access. If you are not the corresponding author, it is not possible to fund the APC outside the remit of the deal. In this case, you should check with the corresponding author to see whether their institution has signed up to the relevant publisher deal. 

Will the University provide funds for page charges and/or colour charges?

• No colour charges can be paid. 
• No page charges can be paid.
• No submission charges can be paid. 

Which licence should I choose for my journal article?

 You are expected to choose the most open of the creative commons licences for your work. This is the CC BY 4.0 version of the licence. If you are funded by the UKRI or other external funders, you must choose this version of the licence or you will not be compliant with your funder's policy. UKRI requires authors to apply in advance for an exception and this will be considered on a case by case basis. 

I'm publishing in a subscription (hybrid) journal that is not part of a publisher transformative/transitional deal. Can I apply for funding?

No payments can be made for Open Access in hybrid journals that are not included in a publisher deals.  

My journal of choice doesn't offer a Gold Open Access option, what do I do?

• It may be that your journal has not had this kind of request before. While many journals owned and managed by big publishing houses have adapted to Gold Open Access very quickly, others have been slower. It is worth contacting the journal to find out if they can offer a Gold Open Access option with a CC BY licence.
• You may still comply be able to comply with University, HEFCE and UKRI policies by self-archiving (depositing) your author final version of your article in our institutional repository, CentAUR. In order to be able to comply with the UKRI policy, you will have to add the 'route 2' wording to your submitted manuscript. Please see the Open Access for Journal Articles Libguide for further details of the required wording. 

Which version of my journal article must I self-archive?

You must deposit the author final manuscript of your article into CentAUR as soon as it is accepted for publication in order to comply with the University Open Access Policy, and with the HEFCE policy for Open Access in the REF.

You can check publisher policies in advance using the SHERPA/ROMEO website which summarises publishers’ copyright and self-archiving policies. Versions prior to peer review are out of scope for CentAUR and not compliant with UKRI requirements. The terminology for versions varies between policies:

My journal of choice doesn’t permit me to self-archive my journal article within my funder's embargo period, or at all. What do I do?

Sometimes publishers may not have had this request before, so attempt to negotiate terms with the publisher.

If your journal of choice neither allows paid Gold Open Access, nor deposit in an institutional repository (Green Open Access) with compliant embargo periods, and publication elsewhere is not appropriate for your work, you can proceed but your article, but: 

• It will not count as compliant in the data reported back to UKRI 
• It will be eligible for the REF as an exception but to achieve this you must deposit the author final manuscript in CentAUR. It will be embargoed or locked to comply with publisher policy.

Use the SHERPA/FACT web tool to check whether your journal is compliant with UKRI policy

My funder isn't listed in SHERPA/FACT. How can I find my funder's policy?

The SHERPA/JULIET database lists many more funders. Search this to find out whether your funder has a policy about making publications Open Access. Then search the SHERPA/ROMEO database to find your journal's self-archiving and Open Access policies; read the summary of these on the ROMEO site to see if they are offering options that are consistent with the funder policies.

Is funding available for making monographs Open Access?

Yes, there may be limited funding available – please see the Publish Books Open Access Libguide for full details of funding arrangements for books and book chapters. 

How do I deposit my article in CentAUR?

If you are a staff member at University of Reading you can log into CentAUR with your usual credentials. If you are a student you will need to ask a staff coauthor to add it for you or ask the CentAUR team to upload the article on your behalf.
If you have linked your ORCID iD to CentAUR, you may be able to add your output from your ORCID record. 
There are guides on how to deposit your article on the CentAUR website. 

What is a transformative/transitional agreement?

A transformative or transitional agreement is a deal between institutions (or often large groups of institutions or consortia) and journal publishers. The agreements aim to change the business models of publishers and help them transition to a fully Open Access model. They are often referred to as 'Read and Publish' deals as they incorporate journal subscriptions and the ability of authors to publish their work Open Access with the publisher. The idea of the agreements is to reduce the costs for institutions and lead to a shift in publisher business models towards Open Access. 

What is a transformative/transitional journal?

A  transitional/transformative Journal (TJ) is a subscription (hybrid) journal that has actively committed to transitioning to a fully Open Access journal.

In addition, a Transformative Journal must agree to:

• gradually increase the share of Open Access content; and

• offset subscription income from payments for publishing services (to avoid double payments - often called 'double dipping').

What are the benefits of Open Access?

Publishing your work Open Access means that it will have a larger audience as it will not be behind a subscription paywall. Other benefits include: 

• Higher citation rates
• Practitioners, who probably won't have subscriptions to journals, are still able read and apply your findings to their work
• Researchers in developing countries can see and use your work
• The public can access your research
• Taxpayers get value for their money
• Compliance with the rules of the funder of your research or your institution's guidelines  
• Your research can influence policy makers as it is open for them to consult
• Your work will have more exposure as it is available to everyone

How can I find reputable fully Open Access (gold) journals?

Most publishers now offer some fully Open Access journals so check the publisher's website. A good source of reputable Open Access journals is the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Tools such as Scimagojr and Scopus also allow you to filter journal searches to only show Open Access journals. 

I've been sent an email from a journal offering to publish my work, should I send my article to them?

In general, it is never a good idea to respond to unsolicited emails asking you to submit your work to a journal or publisher. Often these emails are from less-reputable, so called 'predatory' Open Access journals. The emails are often very flattering and will offer very quick publication in an 'international' journal. You should always check out any journal carefully before you submit your work to them. There is a good checklist of things to look out for on the Think Check Submit website. If in doubt, contact the Open Access requests team in the Library for advice. 

What is an article processing charge (APC)?

An article processing charge (or sometimes referred to as the article publication charge) is a publication fee that is charged to authors in order for their work to be made open access. Most fully open access journals levy an APC. Hybrid journals will also charge an APC for an author to make their work Open Access in a journal that is usually only open to subscribers. The APC should be clearly stated on the journal website. 

What is a hybrid journal?

A hybrid journal is one that charges subscribers for access to the content published in the journal and then also charges authors to make their work Open Access. 

What is Plan S?

Plan S is an initiative with the aim of accelerating the transition to Open Access publishing. The plan was launched in September 2018 by an international consortium of research funding organisations and organisations that conduct research. Signatories to Plan S require that scientific publications that result from research funded by public grants must be published in compliant Open Access journals or Open Access platforms. Some funders, for example, Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have adopted Plan S and require the beneficiaries of their grants to comply with the conditions when publishing research. It is important to check your funder's requirements on Open Access if you have external research funding. 

Where can I find the UKRI Open Access policy?

The UKRI Open Access policy is available on their website. The new policy applies to journal articles submitted for publication from 1 April 2022. 

My article has images in it that can't be made freely available, what do I do about Open Access?

Humanities in general, but especially Art History, rely on images. Reproducing images from museums and galleries often involves significant licensing fees, especially if online. If this is not possible, green Open Access with images removed is an option, in which case the article can be deposited in CentAUR. If removal of the images significantly affects the sense and quality of the article, a redacted version should not be deposited. Contact the CentAUR team for advice.