Open Access agreements save Western authors over $1.6 million
Published on August 28, 2024
Since 2021, Western researchers have saved over $1.6 million dollars in article processing charges (APCs) thanks to Western Libraries covering these publisher fees through negotiated agreements with publishers.
Publishing open access can put authors at a major advantage by increasing the visibility of and access to their research, which may increase citations and impact. Still, despite being touted as open, publishing with many commercial and society publishers operating under an open access model can be costly1. This is why Western Libraries now pays into licensing agreements that allow Western researchers to publish open access at a discount or for free.
As collaborative endeavors between libraries, publishers, and funding agencies, these licensing agreements signify a pragmatic move towards a more inclusive and transparent scholarly ecosystem.
Western Libraries has been supporting these evolving agreements for four years. Based on uptake by Western researchers publishing through these negotiated agreements, we estimate savings totalling over $1.6M for 500 articles between 2021 to 2023 – an average savings of $3,367 in APCs per article.
Ready to save on charges?
At Western, there are several ways to publish open access for free or at a reduced cost.
- Check whether the journal you plan to publish in is covered by the agreements that Western Libraries has negotiated with select publishers. Search the Western Libraries Journal Finder by subject area or title to find a fit for your research.
- Publish in a no-fee open access journal. Use the The Directory of Open Access Journals to search over 12,500 journals. You can filter results to limit your search to "Without fees".
- In cases where you can't find a suitable no-fee OA journal or institutional membership option for your article, consider depositing a peer-reviewed manuscript of your work in the open access Institutional Repository Scholarship@Western to maximize readership.
For more information, contact the Research and Scholarly Communication team at RSCLib@uwo.ca or visit lib.uwo.ca/scholarship/oasupport.html.
1Leigh-Ann Butler, Lisa Matthias, Marc-André Simard, Philippe Mongeon, Stefanie Haustein; The oligopoly’s shift to open access: How the big five academic publishers profit from article processing charges. Quantitative Science Studies 2023; 4 (4): 778–799. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00272
