Identify OA journals
Request Funding
Evaluate publishers
Publishing open access on the publisher website
When you publish open access on the publisher website, your work will be freely available to be read, downloaded and reused by anybody with an internet connection, anywhere in the world. It will be published with a licence such as one of the Creative Commons licences.
Funding to publish open access articles
Many peer-reviewed open access journals listed in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) do not charge publishing fees, this is also referred to as diamond open access. You can publish open access without paying publishing fees in journals included in publisher agreements when you are corresponding author, as it has already been paid for.
If your chosen publishing venue is not covered by existing agreements, you may be required to pay to publish open access. Your funder may pay publishing costs through your research grant, or by providing central open access funds to the institution. The University has four central open access funds, administered in accordance with the central open access funds policy:
- UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
- Wellcome Trust
- British Heart Foundation
- Institutional open access fund
If you need to apply for funding to pay to publish in an open access journal (i.e. listed in DOAJ), contact the Open Research team when you are ready to submit.
Other publication charges
When submitting to a journal that charges page, colour, figure or excess length charges, determine how you will pay these before submitting. Most funders including Horizon Europe, NIHR, UKRI and the Wellcome Trust no longer pay non-open access publication costs. We recommend seeking publishing options that do not incur additional costs such as "colour online only", or asking the publisher to waive the fees.
Predatory publishers
Exercise caution when choosing where to submit, especially when you receive an email inviting you to submit and the publisher is charging a fee to publish your work.
Predatory publishers / journals are “entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices."
- Think Check Submit provides guidelines for assessing publishers of journals and books.
- Cabells predatory reports publish the Predatory Criteria, which they use to evaluate journals.
- Peer-reviewed journals in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) have passed a series of rigorous checks before they are listed, and should adhere to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.
- Contact the Open Research team or your Liaison Librarian for help evaluating publishers.