This blog post was written by Melody Herr, scholarly communications librarian.
In recognition of International Open Access Week, we are highlighting a few of the many ways the University of Arkansas Libraries promotes open access.
Recently, we conducted a survey of U of A researchers who published open access (OA) journal articles within the past four years. Asked to identify the factors that influence their choice of OA, they ranked grant requirements as the least influential factor. A personal commitment to openness, a desire to eliminate cost barriers for readers, and the expectation of increasing their own impact metrics are more important. The most influential factor for these researchers, however, is the availability of funding for the publishing fee (a.k.a., article processing charge or “APC”).
Recognizing the significance of funding, the University Libraries has signed agreements with publishers that cover publishing charges for journals in a variety of disciplines. For example, we have agreements with Elsevier and Springer Nature (sciences) and Cambridge University Press (social sciences, humanities). We also have agreements with a handful of specialized publishers, such as the Association of Computing Machinery (computer science, data science) and The Plan (architecture).
Although the Libraries continue to negotiate with additional publishers, it’s impossible to obtain agreements covering every one of the journals in which our researchers publish. Consequently, we created the Open Access Publishing Fund, which provides individual researchers up to $2000 per calendar year toward publishing fees when they choose to publish OA. The fund has benefited more than 150 researchers since its launch in July 2021.
Are you interested in open access for your own research? Watch the short (3-minute) video in the library guide Funding for Open Access Publications and learn how to find the best funding opportunity for your publication.