Open Access Publishing Fund

Open Access Fund

The Boreham Library has set aside funds to support peer-reviewed open access (OA) scholarship by UAFS researchers. The Open Access Fund is designed to improve access to research produced by Faculty, Students, and Staff.

The purpose of the Boreham Library Open Access Publishing Fund is to foster public access to the work of UAFS scholars by covering the cost of Author Processing Charges (APCs) in open access journals so that no UAFS scholar who desires to make their work open access is disadvantaged by the lack of funds to cover the publication fee. Open access journals are peer-reviewed journals that provide free and immediate access to articles online. Any reader with Internet access may read, download, and distribute that article with attribution to the original author(s). Open Access publishing enables authors to retain their copyrights, accelerates the online availability of peer-reviewed scholarly articles, and eliminates barriers to accessing scholarly works by UAFS researchers.

Fund Eligibility & Requirements

Authors

• UAFS Faculty, Students, and Staff pursuing research for publication who are the sole or co-author of the work are eligible to receive funds.
• Research must be unfunded, or funded under the amount of $20,000.

Journals

• Journals must provide free, immediate, online access to the full text of research articles upon publication without restrictions. This is often called Gold Open Access.
• Eligible journals include those listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals or those that are compliant with the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association’s Code of Conduct.
• Journals must have the fee schedule for Open Access publishing publicly available.
• Articles must be accepted for publication in a qualifying journal before applying for funds.
• Authors agree to include the following acknowledgement on funded articles: “Publication fees for this article were supported by the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith Boreham Library Open Access Fund."

Funding

• Funding is available to support the publication of Open Access Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles, until funding runs out (other publication formats may be considered on a case by case basis).
• Awards are limited to one (1) per author per fiscal year.
• Authors are eligible to request up to $2,500 for their Open Access article. The author is responsible for either negotiating down or paying any amount over the allotted scholarship. Articles will be supported on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are expended.
• Once approved for publication and funding, the author should direct the journal/publisher to send the invoice to the Library for payment. OA publishing fees should not be paid in advance by the author.

Request Evaluation

• Journal eligibility will be reviewed by the Scholarly Communication Librarian. If you have questions about a specific publication's eligibility under this program, please contact jordan.ruud@uafs.edu
• Final funding approval is made by the Director of Library Services.

Application Process

If the above criteria are met, the Open Access Publishing Fund Application can be used to request funds. Requests for publisher payment may be made as soon as an article is accepted and a statement or invoice for publication charges is received. Authors will be notified via email upon approval of funding (typically within seven business days). Payment will be made directly to the publisher.

Funding the Fund

The Boreham Library Open Access Fund was seeded with money set aside by the Library. Additional generous support has come from Dr. Kristin Tardif. 

If you are interested in supporting open access initiatives at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith through contribution to the fund, please contact jordan.ruud@uafs.edu