Open Access guide: OA Fee Discounts & Waivers
Strategies for authors to avoid open access fees
Article processing charges (APCs), or OA author fees, are one method of funding OA publishing, but they are NOT the only method. And there are several ways of avoiding or reducing the OA author fees you pay...
- Many OA journals do not charge fees at all! These are known as diamond (or platinum) journals. To find some of these, search in the DOAJ and limit to journals without article processing charges.
- You can still publish in a conventional closed journal and make a copy of your article OA for FREE in a digital repository. This is often known as "Green OA" and you can do this through USask's repository HARVEST and in compliance with the Tri-Agency Policy. See the OA Repositories tab on this guide for more information.
- OA fees are generally an acceptable expense in grant funding - so you can budget for them in your grant application.
- Some fee-based OA journals will waive fees if the author is from the Global South, unfunded, or can demonstrate financial need.
- The University Library now has many memberships, discounts, and waivers available with publishers - see the table below!
Please note: The Publications Fund administered by the USask OVPR is now discontinued. There is currently no centrally administered fund at USask to pay OA author fees, but some individual colleges or schools may administer their own funds. Check with your unit.
Open Access Author Fee Discounts or Waivers by Publisher or Journal
The University Library...
- pays for memberships with some OA publishers; this gives USask authors discounts on their OA author fees
- pays for reading access to many conventional journal packages from publishers, so these publishers in return will often give USask authors discounts on OA fees in their hybrid journals*
- participates in "Read and Publish" agreements (also known as "Transformative Agreements") with some publishers; this kind of subscription combines read access for the USask community with ability for USask authors to publish OA in the journals without paying author fees
See the table below for open access author fee discounts or waivers available.
| Publisher | Discount | Timeframe | Instructions/Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Chemical Society | $250 USD | ongoing | USask authors receive a $250 USD discount in OA fees in ACS AuthorChoice journals (doesn't include ACS Omega). When completing your online payment form select "Apply Discounts" then search for and select "University of Saskatchewan" as your institution. The $250 discount should then be applied. |
| BioMedCentral/ SpringerOpen | 15% | ongoing |
The University Library pays a membership to BioMedCentral/SpringerOpen which provides this discount for USask authors. The membership is applicable to BMC and Springer fully open access journals only, and does not apply to any Nature Research, Palgrave, or Springer Nature hybrid open access (Open Choice) journals. The discount is set up via IP recognition, so when you submit an article from a desktop computer on campus the discount gets deducted automatically. If you submit the article from off campus or any other IP address, then you need to use a a dropdown box to verify your affiliation with USask. BioMedCentral/SpringerOpen staff would then verify the identity and affiliation and deduct the discount afterwards. |
| Cambridge University Press (CUP) | 100% | 2022 - 2024 |
The University Library is participating in CUP's "Read and Publish" agreement. This means that USask corresponding authors will have unlimited open access publishing with no fees for articles of five research article types, as defined by CUP (research, reviews, rapid communications, brief reports, case reports). This applies to all CUP gold and hybrid journals on this list (Excel). Eligibility is based on the affiliation of the corresponding author as entered in the submission process and the APC waiver is coordinated after acceptance by CUP’s automated RightsLink system. More details on this page. |
| Canadian Science Publishing (CSP) - Open Access Pilot for 5 journals | 100% | 2023 - 2025 |
USask corresponding authors publishing in these five CSP journals do not pay any open access APCs: Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Canadian Journal of Physics, Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, Genome, and Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. Upon article submission to CSP using ScholarOne, authors provide their institutional affiliation to determine eligibility. For accepted papers by CRKN-affiliated** participants in each of the five journals, the APC is waived automatically. |
| Canadian Science Publishing (CSP) - all other journals | 25% | 2023 - 2025 | USask corresponding authors publishing in all other CSP journals not in the open access pilot deal (listed above) are eligible for a 25% APC discount. Upon article submission to CSP using ScholarOne, authors provide their institutional affiliation to determine eligibility. |
| Company of Biologists | 100% | 2024 - 2026 | USask is participating in the Company of Biologists' "Read and Publish" agreement. This means that in addition to full access to read the three subscription journals Development, Journal of Cell Science, and Journal of Experimental Biology, USask corresponding authors will be able to publish their research articles OA free of charge in these journals. For step-by-step instructions to authors see this link. |
| Elsevier / ScienceDirect (hybrid journals) | 100% | 2024 - 2026 |
The University Library is participating in the Elsevier ScienceDirect "Read and Publish" agreement. USask corresponding authors of articles accepted in over 1,800 hybrid journals will receive a waiver for their OA fees. Authors must declare their affiliation with USask at article submission. Several journals are excluded from the APC waiver, such as Cell Press, Lancet, and some other society owned journals. A full list of participating and excluded titles and details about the author workflow is available on the CRKN website. |
| Elsevier / ScienceDirect (gold journals) | 20% | 2024 - 2026 |
USask corresponding authors receive a 20% discount on APCs from in eligible gold Elsevier journals. Authors must select USask as their affiliation from a drop-down menu during the submission process to be identified as eligible for the discount. Several journals are excluded from the APC waiver, such as Cell Press, Lancet, and some other society owned journals. A full list of participating and excluded titles and details about the author workflow is available on the CRKN website. |
| High Energy Physics journals (SCOAP3) | 100% | ongoing | The University Library participates in the SCOAP3 initiative. Authors of high energy physics articles publishing in journals participating in SCOAP3 do not pay OA fees, retain their copyright, and their articles are immediately OA. See this page for more details. Preprints of articles need to be deposited in one of the "High Energy Physics" categories of arXiv to qualify. Additional processes for qualifying for this fee waiver will vary, see the Guide for Authors or APC Guidelines at each participating journal for details. |
| Institute of Physics (IOP) | 100% | 2021 - 2024 | The University Library has signed a "Read and Publish" agreement with the Institute of Physics (IOP). To qualify for this waiver, authors submit articles to IOP using Scholar1, which includes an autofill field for corresponding authors to indicate their affiliation. Article types included are: papers, special issue papers, reviews, and letters. Most hybrid and gold journals are included in this agreement. A small number of journals are excluded; please contact the library for more information. |
| MDPI | 10% | ongoing | USask authors receive a 10% discount in OA Article Processing Charges (APCs), OA book processing charges (BPCs), and OA Chapter Processing Charges (CPCs). Authors will be prompted during the last step of submission to determine if they are eligible for the discount (if submitting from within the USask campus IP range this should be automatically selected for authors). |
| Microbiology Society | 100% | 2024 - 2026 | The University Library has signed a "Read and Publish" agreement with the Microbiology Society. This means that USask corresponding authors will receive waivers on their OA fees for articles submitted across all the Society’s six journals including Microbiology, Journal of General Virology, Journal of Medical Microbiology, Microbial Genomics, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, and Access Microbiology. Affiliations of corresponding authors will be identified by their email address, so please use your USask email in the submission form to qualify for this deal. |
| Oxford University Press Journals (hybrid journals) | 100% | 2024 - 2026 |
The University Library is participating in the Oxford University Press "Read and Publish" agreement. USask corresponding authors of articles accepted in all hybrid journals will receive a waiver for their OA fees. Authors must declare their affiliation with USask at article submission. A full list of participating and excluded titles and details about the author workflow is available on the CRKN website. NOTE: the automatic submission process started February 1, 2024. Any articles submitted in January will be reviewed retroactively. |
| Oxford University Press Journals (gold journals) | 10% | 2024 - 2026 |
USask authors publishing in gold Oxford University Press journals are eligible for a 10% OA fee discount per article. Authors must declare their affiliation with USask at article submission to receive this discount. A full list of participating and excluded titles and details about the author workflow is available on the CRKN website. NOTE: the automatic submission process started February 1, 2024. Any articles submitted in January will be reviewed retroactively. |
| Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) | 15% | ongoing | Authors affiliated with an institution participating in the CRKN** agreement are eligible to receive a 15% discount on the OA fee for all RSC hybrid journals. The APC discount is applied upon acceptance of manuscript. Authors must indicate their institutional affiliation upon submitting their manuscript in order to receive the discount. |
| Royal Society Journals | 100% | 2024 - 2026 | The University Library is participating in the Royal Society's "Read and Publish" agreement. This means that USask corresponding authors will receive a waiver on their OA fees on articles submitted during this year. During the submission process, state your institution and select the "Read & Publish" option. More information available on their website. |
| Sage Choice journals (hybrid journals) | 100% | 2024- 2026 |
The University Library is participating in the Sage "Read and Publish" agreement. USask corresponding authors of articles accepted in Sage Choice (hybrid) journals will receive a waiver for their OA fees. Starting in 2024, this list includes the RSM, IMechE, and additional Sage journals that were excluded in the previous agreement. Eligible authors will be notified upon article acceptance. A full list of participating and excluded titles is available on the CRKN website. |
|
Sage Gold Open Access journals |
40% | 2024 - 2026 | USask authors publishing in gold OA Sage journals are eligible for a 40% OA fee discount per article. SAGE will notify eligible authors upon article acceptance. A full list of participating and excluded titles is available on the CRKN website. |
|
Taylor & Francis Wiley |
0% | ongoing | We canceled our T&F and Wiley journal packages at the end of 2019, and re-subscribed to some individual journals. But since we do not have the complete packages anymore we do NOT qualify for the OA fee discount for these journals as negotiated by CRKN**. |
*Hybrid journals are conventional subscription journals that allow authors to make their individual article open access for a fee (often a very high fee); whereas gold journals are fully OA and all articles OA at time of publication.
**CRKN (Canadian Research Knowledge Network) is the national consortium through which the University Library subscribes to many journal packages and databases