The University of California is committed to making it easier and more affordable for UC authors to publish open access. 

The UC libraries negotiate agreements with scholarly journal publishers to reduce the amount authors must pay when they choose to publish open access. Most agreements offer up to full coverage of the open access fees; others offer a discount.

Below are commonly asked questions about these agreements. You can also find details specific to a given publisher on the list of current open access publisher agreements.

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Funding Approval

Why am I being asked to contribute grant funds to publish my article open access?

I have some funds available, but they are insufficient to cover the remainder of the APC after UC’s automatic $1,000 payment. Can I make a partial contribution and ask UC to cover the rest?

Why am I being asked to give a reason for requesting full funding, and how will my response be used? Will my response determine whether or not I receive funding?

How will I know if my funding request has been approved?

Who do I need to contact at my library to submit my funding request?

Do I need to acknowledge this funding in a footnote or endnote of my article?

Is there a cap on the number of articles I can publish under an agreement or on the amount of funding I can receive?

Author Eligibility

I am not sure whether I am eligible based on my role at UC (e.g. I am a student, postdoctoral scholar, clinician, adjunct or emeritus faculty, employee, etc.). Am I eligible?

I am no longer at UC but the research for my article was conducted while I was affiliated with UC. Am I eligible?

If I already published a subscription article, can I change my decision and publish it open access under an agreement?

Journal and Publication Eligibility 

How can I find out if the journal I’m publishing in is covered by a UC agreement?

Why doesn’t UC have an open access agreement with my journal’s publisher?

What open access options do I have if my journal is not covered by one of UC’s open access publisher agreements?

What types of publications are eligible for funding support?

Creative Commons Licenses

Which Creative Commons license should I select for my open access article?

Payment Process and Invoices 

How do payments work?

I requested to have my APC paid in full, but I received an invoice from the publisher. Who can I contact for help?

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