The ULS Open Access
Author Fee Fund
ULS Scholarly Communications
Lunch and Learn #11
Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing
University Library System
University of Pittsburgh
May 15, 2014
ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund
 What is it?
 Why are we doing it?
 Who else is doing this?
 How does it work?
– Who is eligible?
– What publications are eligible?
– How do authors apply?
 How is the program going?
What is the OA Author Fee Fund?
 A program that pays publishing fees on behalf of
authors at Pitt who wish to publish in Open Access
journals
 Open to faculty, graduate students, undergraduate
students, staff & post-doc researchers
BUT:
 Only eligible authors are awarded funding
 Only eligible journals are covered
Why do authors need funding for OA
publishing?
 Open Access journals cannot rely on subscription
revenues
 Many OA journals are funded through article
processing charges (APCs)
 APCs are more common in STEM journals
 The burden is on the author to find funding
(personal funds, grant funds, institutional funding)
Why have we become involved?
 Incentivize authors to publish in OA journals
 Encourage good choices for OA publishing
– Use standards to screen for quality
– Support fair business models for OA (no hybrid OA)
 Support the efforts of OA publishers
 Experiment with a sustainable cost model for OA
 Collaborate with other academic libraries to help
transform the publishing landscape
Compact for Open-Access Publishing
Equity (COPE)
 a group of universities pledged to support the
funding of their authors in Open Access
publications
 21 universities (Pitt was the 18th)
 Members must:
– Commit to the compact (at Provost level)
– Establish formal funding mechanism
– Develop and publicize policies and procedures
 some policies vary by institution
The Compact
“… each of the undersigned universities commits
to the timely establishment of durable
mechanisms for underwriting reasonable
publication charges for articles written by its
faculty and published in fee-based open-access
journals and for which other institutions would not
be expected to provide funds.”
COPE Members

Cornell University

University of Calgary

Dartmouth College

Simon Fraser University

Harvard University


Massachusetts Institute of Technology
European Organization for Nuclear
Research (CERN)

University of California at Berkeley

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

University of Ottawa

University of Utah

Columbia University

University of Pittsburgh

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Texas A&M University

Emory University

University of Rhode Island

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

University of Michigan

Universitat de Barcelona

Duke University
Pitt Author Eligibility Criteria
 Faculty, staff, postdoctoral associates, and students
 Excludes the six schools of the Health Sciences
–
–
–
–
–
–
Dental Medicine
Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Medicine
Nursing
Pharmacy
Public Health
 Health Sciences author are eligible for journals
published by Hindawi
Journal Eligibility Criteria
 Gold Open Access journals only
– No hybrid Open Access
– No ‘delayed’ Open Access
 Be listed in the Directory of Open Access
Journals (unless the journal is too new for DOAJ
eligibility)
 Be a member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers
Association or adhere to its Code of Conduct
 Have publicly available a standard article fee schedule
OASPA Code of Conduct:
a proxy for OA journal quality
 No practices or activities that could bring the
Association or open access publishing into
disrepute;
 Maintain rigorous peer review process for
published content
 Editorial boards with recognized experts
 Misconduct may be reported to the Board of
Directors resulting in review and expulsion
OASPA Code of Conduct (continued)
Clearly visible on publisher’s Web site:
– Company contact information
– Peer review process & policies
– Author fees and policies (if any)
– Author copyright/licensing policies
– Author submission instructions
– High standards of presentation
Other policies
 No limit to funding per author
 Any Pitt co-author can receive full funding
 Institutional memberships
– Hindawi (only case where HS authors are covered)
– BMC
 Awards now given even if grant funding available
 No reimbursements - library pays publisher up front
How to Apply
Status of the program
 Low rate of adoption
 Theoretical cap on fund: $50K
 Total awards over two years: ~ $20K (non-Hindawi)
 Hindawi membership provides around 20% savings
 Most inquiries are from Health Science researchers
 We need your help to get the word out!
ULS Author Fee Fund recipients - Swanson School of Engineering
Non HSLS Applications funded between July 1, 2012 - December 2, 2013
Eligible Author
Department
Publisher
Publication Name
Chien-Wen Chen
Bioengineering
Hindawi
Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology
William C. W. Chen
Bioengineering
Hindawi
Stem Cells International
Kyle Bibby
Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioMed Central
Microbial ecology
Piervincenzo Rizzo
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Hindawi
Advances in Civil Engineering
Tyler W. Davis
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Hindawi
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
Vikas Khanna
Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioMed Central
Biotechnology for Biofuels
Ervin Sejdic
Electrical and Computer Engineering PLoS
PLoS ONE
Ervin Sejdic
Electrical and Computer Engineering PLoS
PLoS ONE
Ervin Sejdic
Electrical and Computer Engineering BioMed Central
Biomedical Engineering Online
Kevin Chen
Electrical and Computer Engineering Hindawi
Gabriel L. Zenarosa
Industrial Engineering
Jung-Kim Lee
Mechanical Eng. & Materials Science Hindawi
Journal of Sensors
Computational and Mathematical Methods in
Medicine
Journal of Nanomaterials
Jung-Kim Lee
Mechanical Eng. & Materials Science Hindawi
Journal of Nanomaterials
Rocky S. Tuan
Mechanical Eng. & Materials Science BioMedCentral
Stem Cell Research and Therapy
Rocky S. Tuan
Mechanical Eng. & Materials Science BioMed Central
Stem Cell Research and Therapy
Robert S. Parker
Chem/Petroleum Engineering
Critical Care
Hindawi
BioMed Central
ULS Author Fee Fund recipients - other non-HS Schools
Non HSLS Applications funded between July 1, 2012 - December 2, 2013
Eligible Author
Mark P. Mooney
Jill A. Dembowski
Zhiyun Cao
R. Ingram
William C. Troy
Y. Pan
Tao Han
J. Richard Jennings
Katherin A. Belendiuk
Kirk I. Erickson
Kirk I. Erickson
Kristine A. Wilckens
Regina L. Leckie
John M. Jakicic
Kevin H. Kim
Joseph Kabara
Daniel Rosen
Shaun M. Eack
Louis Alfieri
School
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Arts and Sciences
Arts and Sciences
Education
Education
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Social Work
Social Work
Department
Anthropology
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Mathematics
Mathematics
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Physics & Astronomy
Psychology
Psychology
Psychology
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Psychology
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Health & Phys. Activity
Psych. & Education
LRDC
Publisher
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Hindawi
Publication Name
International Journal of Genomics
Journal of Nucleic Acids
International Journal of Proteomics
Advances in Numerical Analysis
International Journal of Differential Equations
Journal of Function Spaces and Applications
Advances in High Energy Physics
International Journal of Hypertension
Journal of Obesity
Journal of Aging Research
Journal of Aging Research
Neural Plasticity
Journal of Aging Research
Journal of Obesity
AIDS Research and Treatment
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
ISRN Addiction
Rehabilitation Research and Practice
Child Development Research
How can we improve the program?
 What could we do to increase awareness of this
program in your departments or areas?
 Are there any avenues for publicity that you know
of that we could take advantage of?
 Can you help us identify eligible journals in your
area?