Open Access

Information on UAL policies, procedures and support for Open Access (OA):

  • We no longer catalogue individual OA e-books. These links tend to be unstable and this material is easy to locate online
  • The Library relies on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) to review and evaluate new open access titles. We catalogue new OA e-journals once they appear in DOAJ
  • The Library does not currently pay for institutional memberships or accounts with any OA publishers that are specifically for the provision of free or discounted Article Processing Charges (APCs) to member organizations.
  • This response template can be used or adapted to answer questions concerning the Library’s support for APCs
  • The University of Alberta has not established an OA author fund to cover APCs for UofA researchers

License agreements with the following publishers provide UofA researchers with a discount on APCs:

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) – University of Alberta researchers qualify for a 15% discount on APCs in Science Advances, the OA journal published by AAAS. This is in addition to the 4% discount offered to AAAS members.

  • American Chemical Society (ACS) – University of Alberta researchers qualify for a $250 USD discount on APCs in all ACS journals. This is in addition to any personal ACS membership discounts.

  • Biochemical Society –APCs are waived for University of Alberta researchers for our five subscribed Biochemical Society journals.

  • Canadian Science Publishing (formerly NRC Research Press) – As participants in the CRKN license for Canadian Science Publishing journals, University of Alberta researchers receive a 50% discount on the APC for OA publishing. The reduced fee is $1,500 CAD per article. PLEASE NOTE: This discount does not apply to the OA journal FACETS, which has a reduced regular APC. When submitting your paper, please identify yourself as a University of Alberta member in order to receive the discount.

  • Cambridge University Press – University of Alberta researchers qualify for a 20% discount on APCs in all Gold OA and Hybrid OA journals published by Cambridge University Press. The discount is applied when an author submits the article to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service.

  • Elsevier – As of January 1, 2021, University of Alberta researchers receive a 20% discount on APCs for both hybrid and gold open access journals. Cell PressLancet, and some other society-owned journals are excluded. In order to qualify for this discount, a UofA researcher must be the Corresponding Author. The discount is reflected on the APC invoice, after the Corresponding Author indicates their UofA affiliation and selects an open access publishing option. Elsevier’s APC price list is available here.

  • PLOS Biology and PLOS Medicine – University of Alberta researchers are able to publish in these titles without incurring Author Publishing Fees typical of many open access journals, thanks to our participation in the PLOS Community Action Publishing Program.

  • SAGE – As of January 1, 2021, University of Alberta researchers can publish their articles as Open Access with no Article Processing Charge (APC) in most (900+) SAGE journals. (There is a small number of exclusions, listed here). When publishing with one of SAGE’s gold open access journals (click here for title list), University of Alberta researchers receive a 40% discount on APCs. This APC waiver or discount is applied automatically when you indicate your UofA affiliation during the article submission process. A Creative Commons license will be applied to open access publications, unless you request a different license. These options are available thanks to a new transformative agreement between SAGE and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, of which the University of Alberta Library is a member.

  • Taylor & Francis – University of Alberta researchers qualify for a 25% discount on APCs in Taylor & Francis Open Select journals. The discount should be automatically applied to any APC fees for these journals when authors submit their acceptance.

Additional OA publishing information for researchers, authors and journal editors is available on the Library website.