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Open access and rights retention

Support with Open Access fees

When publishing gold open access, the publisher will usually charge the author, their institution or their funder a fee to cover publication costs.  This fee is usually known as an Article Processing Charge (APC) for journal articles. There are similar fees, such as chapter publication charges and book publication charges for other research output types.

The costs of publishing a journal article gold open access may already be covered by a read-and-publish agreement that the Library has with the publisher.  Please check if the journal you are interested in publishing in is covered by one of the SHU read-and-publish agreements.

If the costs of publishing gold open access are not covered by one of the read-and-publish agreements, you can request support with open access fees from the SHU Open Access Fund using the form at the link below.  To apply you must be a current member of SHU academic staff or a postgraduate research (doctoral) student.

Please apply and wait for the outcome of your application before submitting your article to your chosen journal or agreeing to publish your monograph or chapter open access

Support cannot be guaranteed, so applying before submission will mean that you will know whether your application has been approved or not.  It will also enable us to advise you about what you may need to do on submission to take advantage of any discounts or to streamline the payment process.

Given the limits to resources, both the research and the journal you wish to submit your work to must meet certain quality criteria to be eligible for funding for gold open access from the SHU Open Access Fund.  Part of the application assessment process will a review of eligibility by the relevant Unit of Assessment Co-ordinator.

Please note that if you are application is approved, but you paper is unfortunately not accepted in the journal included in your application, please notify the Library Research Support Team.  If there is an increased cost, this may need to go through the approval process and the quality of the journal will need to be assessed.

Below is a list of agreements that may enable you to receive a publisher discount on the cost of publishing an article gold open access. 

Publisher discounts for articles

The agreements below reduce the cost and/or streamline the processes of publishing articles gold Open Access.

If you are unsure if one of these discounts will apply to your research or chosen journal, please contact the Library Research Support Team (Email: library-research-support@shu.ac.uk).

BioMed Central

Discount What you need to do

Open Access costs will be charged, but SHU corresponding authors may be eligible for a 15% discount.

For more details, please contact the Library Research Support Team. Email: library-research-support@shu.ac.uk

Please see the 'Publishing in a fully Open Access journal' section of the Springer Open Access agreement for the UK site for a list of eligible journals.

Please apply for funding to cover the cost before submitting your article.

Elsevier fully Open Access journals

Discount

What you need to do

SHU corresponding authors publishing an article in Elsevier fully open access journals are entitled to a 15% discount when the costs are paid through the SHU Open Access Fund.

Please apply for funding to cover the cost before submitting your article.

If you have received approval of your funding application and confirmation that you can go ahead with Gold Open Access, please make sure your SHU affiliation is clear and use your SHU email address on submission, so you can be identified as being entitled to the discount.

Frontiers

Discount

What do you need to do

SHU corresponding authors receive a 5% discount on the cost of publishing Open Access in Frontiers journals when payment is made through the SHU Open Access Fund.

Eligibility is based on an approved application for support to cover the rest of the cost.

Please apply for support to cover the cost before submitting your article.

If you have received approval of your funding application and confirmation that you can go ahead with Gold Open Access, please do the following to ensure that the discount is applied.

  • When submitting your article, please select Sheffield Hallam University as the institutional payer.
  • Please use your SHU email address in your submission.

MDPI

Discount What you need to do

Articles from SHU  authors receive a 20% discount in MDPI open access journals as part of the ‘Institutional Open Access Program’.

Please apply for funding to cover the cost before submitting your article.

If you have received approval of your funding application and confirmation that you can go ahead with Gold Open Access, please make sure your SHU affiliation is clear in your submission, so you can be identified as being entitled to the discount.

Modern Languages Open

Please contact the Library Research Support Team (library-research-support@shu.ac.uk) about our MLO membership which could cover the Open Access costs of publishing in this journal.

 

PLOS

Streamlined process

What you need to do

SHU Library has an agreement with PLOS which streamlines the payment process for SHU corresponding authors publishing in PLOS journals but does not include any discount.

The full APC cost is payable.

Please apply for funding to cover the cost before submitting your article.

If you have received approval of your funding application and confirmation that you can go ahead with Gold Open Access, please make sure your SHU affiliation is clear in your submission.  This will enable PLOS to identify that the streamlined payment process should apply.

Policy Press / Bristol University Press

Discount What you need to do

Articles from SHU authors receive a 20% discount, when payment is made by SHU.

Details are on the BUP Open Access options for journals page.

Please apply for funding to cover the cost before submitting your article.

If you have received approval of your funding application and confirmation that you can go ahead with Gold Open Access, please make sure your SHU affiliation is clear in your submission, so you can be identified as being entitled to the discount.

Royal College of Nursing - RCNi

Discount What you need to do

SHU corresponding authors receive a £250 discount on the cost of publishing Open Access in RCNi journals that the University subscibes to.

RCNi Open Access FAQs

Please apply for funding to cover the cost before submitting your article.

If you have received approval of your funding application and confirmation that you can go ahead with Gold Open Access, please do the following:

  • When submitting your article, make sure that your Sheffield Hallam University affiliation is clear and it is advisable to use your SHU email address.

When your paper is accepted for publication, you will be asked to indicate that you would like to pay for providing free access to your article online.

Sage Fully Open Access journals

Discount

What you need to do

SHU corresponding authors publishing an article in Sage fully open access journals are entitled to a 20% discount.  A list of the participating journals can be found on this page about the Sage agreement.

Please apply for funding to cover the cost before submitting your article.

If you have received approval of your funding application and confirmation that you can go ahead with Gold Open Access, please make sure your SHU affiliation is clear in your submitted article, so you can be identified as being entitled to the discount.

 

Springer Open, BMC and Nature fully Open Access journals

Discount What you need to do

Open Access costs will be charged, but SHU corresponding authors may be eligible for a 15% discount.

For more details, please contact the Library Research Support Team. Email: library-research-support@shu.ac.uk

Please see the 'Publishing in a fully Open Access journal' section of the Springer Open Access agreement for the UK site for a list of eligible journals.

You will need to have funding to pay the Open Access costs. 

Please apply for funding to cover the cost before submitting your article.