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Open Access Publishing Fund

About

The UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund improves access to research produced at the University of Maryland and:

  • enables authors to retain their copyrights
  • accelerates the online availability of peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles generated by UMD researchers
  • raises campus awareness about the benefits of open access
  • covers article processing charges (APCs) levied by peer-reviewed open access journals

Maximum Levels of Reimbursement

Only 50% of an article will be funded. In order to include as many authors as possible while covering typical costs, the following limits apply to support awards for each author:

  • Article cap – maximum funding per article $3,000 (50% of the article processing charges paid by the UMD author)
  • Author cap – one funded article per fiscal year

Who is eligible?

Any UMD faculty member, post-doctoral researcher, or currently enrolled graduate or undergraduate student whose article has been accepted may apply for funding.

What articles are covered?

Funds are available for open access journals, which are journals that do not charge a fee for institutions, libraries or readers for access to the content, and do not have an embargo period for access. This includes:

  • All journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals that allow authors to retain distribution rights
  • Members of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) or demonstrate its adherence to the Code of Conduct
  • Journals that have publicly available a standard article fee schedule
  • Journals that have a policy to substantially waive fees in case of economic hardship

Journals with a hybrid open-access model or delayed open-access model are not eligible. Subscription-based journals that charge a fee, sometimes called an “author’s choice” or “open choice” fee, to make single articles available by open access are also not eligible. Any authors who are unsure as to whether or not a particular journal is eligible should contact Terry Owen, towen@umd.edu or (301) 314-1328, prior to submitting an article for publication.

Reimbursement will cover only direct costs for open access publication (not the cost of reprints, color illustration fees, non-OA page charges, web hosting for self-archiving, etc.).

Guidelines

Applicants must be listed as the corresponding author and article must indicate UMD affiliation.

Reimbursement will be made once the article has been accepted for publication and the author has been invoiced for the submission fee. Once the application is approved, authors are encouraged to pay the full amount with department funds and the Libraries will transfer 50% of the fee to that account. Authors must provide a copy of the publisher’s paid invoice along with the department account number and object code.

Author must also provide a full bibliographic citation plus a copy of the funded article, either author’s final version or the published version, for deposit in DRUM (Digital Repository at the University of Maryland).

Acknowledgment

Authors shall add an acknowledgment to all articles sponsored by the fund, such as "Partial funding for open access provided by the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund."

Assistance

Contact Terry Owen, towen@umd.edu or (301) 314-1328, if you have any questions about the Open Access Publishing Fund.


OA Fund Success Stories

"Now I have total 2694 downloads and 1639 views. This kind of exposure will never be possible without open access publication."

Ming Hu

"Lowering the barriers to getting our work noticed and cited by a wide variety of scholars around the world is very important for maintaining our leadership in research."

Steven Anlage

"We all benefit when information is accessible to everyone, not just to select groups."

Robert Slevc
 Christopher Jewell headshot

Christopher Jewell

One reason we chose open access was to maximize the visibility of our research. More visible and accessible papers generate more ideas and feedback, which helps drive the field forward. Equally important, supporting open access will grow the importance of transparency and open information availability that could lead to standard expectation for journals, publishers, and authors, without exorbitant pricing.

Christopher Jewell, Minta Martin Professor of Engineering, Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Research in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering

Articles published through the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund

Lipid Tethering of Breast Tumor Cells Enables Real-Time Imaging of Free-Floating Cell Dynamics and Drug Response (2016), Oncotarget.

Reprogramming the Local Lymph Node Microenvironment Promotes Tolerance that Is Systemic and Antigen Specific (2016), Cell Reports.


Ming Hu headshot

Ming Hu

Open access publication help me to reach a larger audience. For example, one of my papers  funded through UMD publishing fund got more than 500 views and 100 downloads in the first week of publication. Now I have total 2694 downloads and 1639 views. This kind of exposure will never be possible without open access publication.

Ming Hu, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Articles published through the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund

Optimal Renovation Strategies for Education Buildings - A Novel BIM–BPM–BEM Framework. (2018), Sustainability.


Gerald S. Wilkinson headshot

Gerald S. Wilkinson

I prefer to publish in open access journals, or to use open access options, so that my work is available to the widest possible audience anywhere in the world.  I also encourage my graduate students and postdocs to consider open access publications for the same reason.  The availability of funds from the library to help offset open access charges, which can be substantial for some high profile journals, has been very helpful, especially for graduate students.

Gerald S. Wilkinson, Associate Dean and Professor, Department of Biology

Articles published through the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund

Meiotic Drive Impacts Expression and Evolution of X-Linked Genes in Stalk-Eyed Flies (2014),  PLoS Genetics.

Dynamic Sex-Specific Responses to Synthetic Songs in a Duetting Suboscine Passerine (2018), PLoS ONE.


Pratyush Tiwary headshot

Pratyush Tiwary

I published open access as it allows my interdisciplinary research to be seen by people from different training backgrounds and institutions, irrespective of whether they have subscription to a more technical, pay-for-access journal or not. While the open access fees are quite high, support from the library made it much more affordable and practical.

Pratyush Tiwary, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry & Institute for Physical Science and Technology

Articles published through the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund

Past-future information bottleneck for sampling molecular reaction coordinate simultaneously with thermodynamics and kinetics. (2019) Nature Communications.


Steven Anlage headshot

Steven Anlage

We publish in open-access journals because they are so easily accessed by our colleagues around the world.  Physics is a very international business, so to speak, and lowering the barriers to getting our work noticed and cited by a wide variety of scholars around the world is very important for maintaining our leadership in research.

Steven Anlage, Professor, Department of Physics

Article published through the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund

Measuring the Complex Optical Conductivity of Graphene by Fabry-Pérot Reflectance Spectroscopy (2016), Scientific Reports.


R. Gordon Rinderknecht headshot

R. Gordon Rinderknecht

I chose to pursue open access publishing because it offers opportunities for publishing research that traditional publishers are often uninterested in, such as replication research.

R. Gordon Rinderknecht, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Sociology


Article published through the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund

Effects of Participant Displeasure on the Social-Psychology Study of Power on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. (2019) SAGE Open.


L. Robert Slevc headshot

Robert Slevc

Open access publishing is important to me because I want my work to be accessible (and hopefully read/cited) by a wide audience, not limited only to those people at institutions with the appropriate journal subscriptions. Because science is a collective enterprise, we all benefit when information is accessible to everyone, not just to select groups.

Robert Slevc, Associate Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Psychology

Article published through the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund

Acoustic Correlates of Auditory Object and Event Perception: Speakers, Musical Timbres, and Environmental Sounds. (2019) Frontiers in Psychology.


Alok Bhargava headshot

Alok Bhargava

Open access publishing is becoming increasingly popular and many well-established journals have become electronic and have open access options. This is also true in the context of climate change and environmental research. UMD libraries should continue to subsidize article processing fees especially for journals with reasonably high impact factors.

Alok Bhargava, Professor, School of Public Policy

Article published through the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund

Climate Variability, Rice Production and Groundwater Depletion in India (2018), Environmental Research Letters.

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