Open Access Publishing

What is the benefit of publishing open access?

Open access publishing ensures broader reach, with higher visibility and sharing, for articles in a timely manner without an embargo to readers. More information about open access is available at Copley Library's guide to open access.

Why is there sometimes a cost to publish open?

For closed articles (i.e. not published open access), the cost of publishing an article is covered by existing subscription fees paid by institutions. As publishers shift to an open model that does not rely on collecting subscription fees, article processing charges (APCs) are levied, ranging from $500 to $10,000 per article, to prepare articles for open access publication. 

How can Copley help me publish open access?

Copley Library actively supports open access publishing and provides University of San Diego-affiliated authors with the following ways to offset the costs of publishing open access:

• Institutional agreements with publishers that provide library-subsidized, fully waived or partially waived open access publishing opportunities
• Digital USD, our institutional repository, that provides immediate, free open access publishing

Can I opt-out of publishing open access?

Yes. While we encourage publishing open under the library's agreements or in Digital USD, many journals offer the option to publish closed or open.

How do I determine my eligibility for funded APCs through Copley Library?

Copley Library currently has several open access publishing agreements. Eligibility requirements are listed by publisher on this page, including:

• Eligible journals
• Eligible authors
• Eligible article types
• APC Fee Waiver eligibility

How do I request a publisher that is not listed on this page?

Email your liaison librarian and the Senior Electronic and Open Content Librarian, Amy Pham, at abpham@sandiego.edu. We will do our best to provide information about partnering with publishers not listed on this page.

Are there other opportunities for APC funding?

Yes, the Provost's Office offers up to $500 to reimburse charges for publication fees through the Faculty Research Publications Fund.

• Agreement valid until: June 30, 2026
• Eligible journals:  ACM Digital Library (All journals, conference proceedings, and technical mags)
• Eligible authors: Corresponding authors
• Eligible articles:  Case Study, Interview, Research article, Review Article, Short paper, Survey Article, Technical Note / Editorial Note / Note, Tutorial
• APC Fee Waiver eligibility: All APCs waived (no additional requirements)
• OA publication process: Select "Institutionally Paid Open Access / Permissions Release" during publication process. Automatic approval of waived APCs for eligible authors.
• Agreement group: Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC)

• Agreement valid until: December 31, 2025
• Eligible journals:  All ACS journals
• Eligible authors: Corresponding faculty, lecturer, staff, and student authors at subscribing institutions
• Eligible articles:  Article types vary by journal and eligibility is determined by journal editorial staff
• APC Fee Waiver eligibility: APC waived if grant funding is not available. $3000 discounted APC applied if grant funding is available to cover APCs.
• OA publication process: Select "Order Open Access" and identify grant funding availability for APCs. Detailed instructions available under "I'm a Prospective Author, How do I Publish Open Access"?
• Agreement group: Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC)

• Agreement valid until: December 31, 2025
• Eligible journals: All hybrid and fully open access journals (Browse eligible journals)
• Eligible authors: Corresponding authors at subscribing institutions
• Eligible articles: Original research articles, including research articles, review articles, rapid communications, brief reports and case reports
• APC Fee Waiver eligibility: All APCs waived (no additional requirements)
• OA publication process: Automatic approval of waived APCs with author verification. More information is available here.
• Agreement group: Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC)

• Agreement valid until: December 31, 2026
• Eligible journals: All Company of Biologist journals (Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms, Biology Open)
• Eligible authors: Corresponding faculty, lecturer, staff, and student authors at subscribing institutions
• Eligible articles: Research Article; Research Report; Techniques and Resources Article; Techniques and Resources Report; Short Report; Tools and Resources; Methods & Techniques; Short Communication; Resource Article
• APC Fee Waiver eligibility: All APCs waived (no additional requirements)
• OA publication process: Automatic approval of waived APCs for eligible authors. More information is available here.
• Agreement group: University of San Diego

• Agreement valid until: Always (never expires)
• Eligible journals: Dependent on publisher's copyright permissions. Digital USD can also host OA journals if the editor is a USD employee.
• Eligible authors: All USD employees and students (in some cases, student work must be approved by a faculty member)
• Eligible articles: Dependent on original publisher's copyright permissions; typically, pre-prints and accepted manuscripts are eligible for inclusion, sometimes after an embargo period. Materials that have not been previously published are also eligible.
• APC Fee Waiver eligibility: No APCs
• OA publication process: Contact digital@sandiego.edu for help in determining if an item can be published or deposited into the repository.
• Agreement group: University of San Diego

• Agreement valid until: December 31, 2027
• Eligible journals:  Most hybrid and fully open access journals in ScienceDirect Freedom (Excludes Cell Press, Lancet and Clinics titles, and some third-party publishers and societies) (List of eligible journals)
• Eligible authors: Corresponding authors with a sandiego.edu email address
• Eligible articles: Full-length article, Short communication, Short survey, Review article, Data, Case report, Micro articles, Original software publication, Video article, Protocols, Replication studies, Practice guidelines
• APC Fee Waiver eligibility: All APCs waived for Hybrid journals. APCs waived for fully open access titles if institution has not exceeded article cap.
• OA publication process: Automatic approval of waived APCs with author verification. More information is available here.
• Retroactive OA publication: Retroactive open access publication is available on a limited basis. Details are available here.
• Agreement group: Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC)

• Agreement valid until: July 14 of next year (renews annually)
• Eligible journals:  All journals on the MDPI platform (list of journals)
• Eligible authors: Corresponding authors with a sandiego.edu email address
• Eligible articles: Full-length article, Proceeding paper
• APC Fee Waiver eligibility: 10% discount on all journal APCs (List of APC costs). 10% discount on BPCs (open access book publishing charges). 15% discount on Language Editing Services.
• OA publication process: Discounted APC automatically applied with sandiego.edu email. Submission instructions available here.
• Agreement group: University of San Diego

• Agreement valid until: December 31, 2026
• Eligible journals:  Hybrid journals in Springer All+, Academic Journals on Nature.com, Adis & Palgrave (Excludes Nature-branded and Scientific American titles, Springer Fully OA journals, and 180 third-party titles from Pleiades Publishing) (Download list of eligible journals)
• Eligible authors: Corresponding faculty, lecturer, staff, and student authors at subscribing institutions
• Eligible articles: Original Papers, Review Papers, Brief Communications, Continuing Education
• APC Fee Waiver eligibility: APC waived if institution has not exceeded article cap
• OA publication process: Automatic approval of waived APCs with author verification. More information is available here.
• Agreement group: Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC)

• Agreement valid until: December 31, 2026
• Eligible journals: Most hybrid and fully open access journals (Excludes Hindawi journals) (Search for eligible journals in Wiley Journal Finder)
• Eligible authors: Corresponding researcher, professor, adjunct faculty member, lecturer, graduate or undergraduate student
• Eligible articles: Original research and review articles (Includes research article, review article, commentary, short communication, case study, technical note, education, data article, lecture, method and protocol, perspective, practice and policy, and rapid publication)
• APC Fee Waiver eligibility: APC waived if grant funding is not available. $1000 discounted APC applied if grant funding is available to cover APCs.
• OA publication process: Identify grant funding availability for APCs during submission process (for Fully OA journals) or during publication process (for Hybrid journals). Detailed instructions for the submission and publication process are available here.
• Agreement group: Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC) / University of California (UC) System