Applying for APC funding

A publisher's Article Processing Charge (APC) is an up-front cost of publication.  Upon payment of the APC, your work will be made Gold OA on the publisher's website, and copyright is returned to the author via the application of a Creative Commons licence to the publisher's version of record.  If you are publishing in a Hybrid OA journal, then APC payment is optional.  If you are publishing in a Gold OA journal, then APC payment is required.

The Library holds two budgets to cover the cost of a publisher's APC.  First, for any researchers contracted at the University who are in receipt of a research grant from UKRI, we are provided with a block grant for UKRI to cover the cost of Gold OA to support compliance with the UKRI OA Policy.  The University also has its own separate budget for APCs, for any articles not supported by UKRI research funding.

Please note that applications to the UKRI APC budget must be for fully OA or transformative journals. UKRI will not pay for publishing in hybrid journals (journals containing both open access and subscription content), unless the hybrid journal is part of a publishing sector-wide agreement to become a transformative journal. Please also note that if a journal is part of the University's Read and Publish Agreements then an APC application is unnecessary (unless our deal only partly covers the APC cost of a specific journal). 

APC Application Form and Process

Please apply for APC funding at the point of submission rather than acceptance.   This is to ensure that any issues of OA compliance or funding are given sufficient advance notice, and can be addressed in a timely fashion.  If your article is being submitted to a Gold OA journal, then it also ensures that funding for required APC payment is secured.  Other publication costs (i.e. page and colour charges) are not covered by the APC payment.  

Please download the APC Application Form.  Applicants should complete 'Section 1' (up to 'Justification for OA Publication') and submit their application form to the Library's Research Outputs Team at openaccess@port.ac.uk, along with a copy of your drafted manuscript.  Your application is then provided with a quality control check, before being sent to reviewers for a decision on the outcome.

If you are applying for the UKRI APC budget (for articles that acknowledge UKRI funding), then applications are reviewed by the ADR only.  If you are applying for the University APC budget (for non-UKRI funded articles), then applications are reviewed first by your REF UoA Coordinator, and the final decision is provided by the ADR.  Completed applications can expect an outcome within 10 working days.

Eligibility: All current members of academic staff are eligible to apply.  The applicant must be the corresponding author for the article.  Research students and sessional lecturers may apply where they are the corresponding author; however, the specific article should be co-authored with a current member of academic staff.  For articles co-authored with colleagues from other institutions, it is the expectation of the sector that the institution of the corresponding author pays the APC.

Upon acceptance: If your APC application was successful, then once your article is accepted for publication and you receive the APC invoice from the publisher, please send it to the Library's Research Outputs Team to arrange payment.  Please ensure that you select the CC-BY licence with the publisher.

Approvals: If your APC application was successful, then your approval will typically stand so long as your article remains in the peer-review process with the journal identified in your application form.  However, please note that this is subject to a process of checking closer to financial year-end for the specific budget.

Journal rejections: The APC application process is for 'x' article in 'y' journal.  If your APC application was successful, but your article was rejected by the peer-review process and therefore not accepted for publication, then the funds previously committed from the APC budget are released back into the budget.

Appeals: If your APC application was unsuccessful, then you can appeal the decision with the Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. Please contact the Research Outputs Team in the first instance at openaccess@port.ac.uk.