York University Libraries continues to fund open access publishing and open scholarship efforts at the University and in Canada through initiatives such as:
- agreements with various publishers to secure discounts for York authors that incur author processing charges for publishing in open access (see full list below);
- memberships and funding commitments with leading open scholarship infrastructure organizations such as the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), and the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS);
- supporting local, scholar-led Open Access publication with journal publishing infrastructure and expert support under the rubric of York University Digital Journals program;
- management of YorkSpace, York University’s institutional repository, and associated support services to help authors comply with open access policy requirements;
- an open access author fund which, subject to the availability of funds, can help support processing charges for papers accepted for publication in fully open access journals;
- campus partnerships with the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, and the Office of Research Services.
Publisher Discounts and Agreements
Our membership in the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) provides York University researchers with access to APC discounts for the following publishers:
American Chemical Society: York University authors receive a 250 USD flat discount on Open Access publishing services (ACS Author Choice). The APC discount is applied upon submission of a manuscript, and authors should identify their institutional affiliation in order to qualify for the discount.
Cambridge: Effective January 1 2022, York authors can publish an unlimited number of their articles as open access in all Cambridge hybrid and gold journals for the duration of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network’s agreement with Cambridge University Press (2022-2024). No article processing charges (APC) fees will be levied for open access publication. Cambridge uses an automated system, RightsLink, to associate authors with their affiliated institutions. Authors are encouraged to use their York email address that includes the institutional domain to facilitate the identification of eligible articles. Please review Cambridge's step by step guide to open access publishing for more information on the submission process.
Canadian Science Publishing: Effective January 1st, 2023, York authors can publish free and unlimited open access in the following five CSP journals: Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Canadian Journal of Physics, Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, Genome, and Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. Corresponding authors affiliated with York are eligible to receive a 25% discount on the article processing charge (APC) for 14 CSP Hybrid journals. Authors must indicate their institutional affiliation upon submitting their manuscript in order to benefit from the discount. This agreement is set to be renewed in 3 years.
Elsevier: York authors are eligible to receive a 20% discount on hybrid and Gold Open Access journals. Exclusions apply to Cell Press, Lancet, and some other society-owned journals. A full list of Elsevier journals eligible for the discount is located on the CRKN website. The 20% APC Discount is applied to any articles submitted to eligible Elsevier journals between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2023. Upon final acceptance of an article for publication, the corresponding author receives an e-mail with a link to choose publishing options and will be asked to choose their institutional affiliation from an auto-complete form. For hybrid journals, if the corresponding author declares themselves affiliated with a CRKN institution, they will be presented with the option to publish as a subscription article, or to publish open access. For gold OA journals, the article is open access by default. In both cases, the author is presented with text which states that, as an author affiliated with a CRKN institution, they will receive a 20% discount on the APC. Once the author has chosen a creative commons license and completed the remainder of the acceptance process, CRKN will validate the request within two business days CRKN and the author will receive the invoice with the discount included.
Institute of Physics: York University is a participant in a Canadian Research Knowledge Network-Institute of Physics (IOP) Publishing agreement that extends unlimited reading and open access publishing in most IOPP hybrid and gold journals at no charge to authors affiliated with the university. The agreement is retroactive to December 15, 2021, and corresponding authors affiliated with York can publish an unlimited number of their articles under an open access license in most IOPP hybrid and gold journals at no charge to the author for the duration of the agreement. To learn more about how to submit a manuscript under the terms of this agreement, please consult this IOP guide.
MDPI: York University Libraries is a participating institution in MDPI's Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP). Consequently, York authors receive a 10% discount on the APCs for any paper published in an MDPI journal. Note that only one discount through an IOAP scheme is permitted per paper, and the discount cannot be combined with other available discounts (e.g., discount vouchers, or society membership discounts).
PLOS Community Action Program: York University is a participant in the Canadian Research Knowledge Network-Public Library of Science (PLOS) publishing agreement and a member of PLOS’ Community Action Publishing (CAP) program, a new collective action publishing model which allows researchers at the institution to publish an unlimited number of articles fee-free in all 12 PLOS journals. This model shifts publishing costs from authors to research institutions based on prior publishing history as affiliated with corresponding and contributing authors. The group collectively contributes to the shared cost recovery target and any surplus revenue collected by PLOS is redistributed to members. The current end date for this agreement is December 31st, 2024.
SAGE: By virtue of the CRKN-SAGE Premier Open Access agreement, all York authors can now publish articles in SAGE Choice journals under an open access license with no associated Article Processing Charge (APC). CRKN members participating in the CRKN-SAGE license are also eligible to receive a 40% discount on the Article Processing Charge (APC) on Gold Open Access journals. SAGE Open Access Portal (SOAP) is a centralized portal that automates SAGE’s open access publication process. To learn more about the manuscript submission process with SAGE, you can consult this CRKN website.
Taylor and Francis: York University authors are eligible to receive a 25% discount in T&F Open Select journals. To take advantage of the discount on T&F Open Select journals, an author can submit an article and choose the open access publishing option. When the APC is generated, authors can select their institution from the drop-down menu, and the discount will be automatically applied.
Memberships
Coalition Publica: Coalition Publica is a strategic partnership created by Érudit and the Public Knowledge Project (PKP). It stems from an intensive and collaborative reflection process within the Canadian research community, aiming to develop a national infrastructure for the open access dissemination of publications in HSS and arts and letters. York University Libraries has supported this initiative from the beginning through its membership in the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), and has signed on to support the current phase of the project.
Cogitatio: York University covers the article processing charges (APC) of up to three articles per calendar year authored by corresponding authors of the institution. This agreement is valid as of 1 June 2021.
MIT Press Direct to Open Ebooks: MIT Press Direct to Open Ebooks is a collective action model built to support open access publication of digital monographs from MIT Press. Through the support of libraries and consortia worldwide, digital monographs will become openly accessible each year without book processing charges (BPCs). The model funds a collection of an estimated 90 titles per year.
Open Book Publishers: York University Libraries is a member of the Open Book Publishers' Library Membership Programme. Established in 2008 by academics at the University of Cambridge, Open Book Publishers has published more than 217 rigorously peer-reviewed Open Access monographs, expanding from a focus on the humanities and social sciences into publishing Open Access works of all disciplines, attracting over 3 million book interactions.
Punctum books: York University Libraries is a member of the Punctum Books Supporting Library Membership Program. This program utilizes a consortial funding model whereby small annual contributions sourced from a network of libraries across the world form a robust revenue pool that enables an extremely cost-effective method for funding Open Access in which no single institution bears a disproportionate cost. Punctum books are recognized for publishing high-quality open-access books in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Fine Arts, and Architecture & Design without imposing publication fees on authors, and they are supported by academic libraries around the world committed to maintaining open-source and community-owned infrastructure for open-access books in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Public Knowledge Project: The Public Knowledge Project (PKP) is a multi-university initiative developing (free) open source software and conducting research to improve the quality and reach of scholarly publishing.
SCOAP³: SCOAP³ aims to convert to Open Access the peer-reviewed literature in the field of High-Energy Physics by re-directing, on a global level, funds currently used to subscribe to these journals. Through its membership in the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), York University Libraries supports this initiative which has thus far enabled the open access publishing of over 32,000 articles at well below average article processing charge (APC) rates.
SCOSS: Through its membership in the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), York University Libraries supports the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS). Participating in SCOSS is a valuable opportunity to support international open access and open science services, such as Sherpa-Romeo and the Directory of Open Access Journals.
SPARC: The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) works to enable the open sharing of research outputs and educational materials in order to democratize access to knowledge, accelerate discovery, and increase the return on our investment in research and education.
University of Michigan Press Fund to Mission: The University of Michigan's Fund to Mission publishing program aims to offer a more open, sustainable university press infrastructure for the humanities and social sciences. The program seeks to convert at least 75% of U-M Press monographs to open access by the end of 2023, without any author ever having to pay. York University Libraries is a supporting member of the program.