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Open access support

Open access is the free, immediate, online availability of research articles coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment. 

Open access journals are available for nearly every area of research. For help with identifying and evaluating open access journals, contact the library liaison for your subject area or the Scholarly Communications Librarian.  

Funding Support

VCU Libraries and VIVA, Virginia’s academic library consortium, have agreements with some publishers that provide VCU authors with full coverage for open access publishing fees. VCU Libraries also encourages authors to pursue funds from other sources, such as grant or departmental funds, to pay for the full cost of article fees.

VCU authors can make their journal articles open access, immediately upon publication, through the opportunities listed below. Coverage is limited to open access publishing charges. Page charges and other additional charges may not be covered by these agreements. For questions about coverage under these agreements, contact the Scholarly Communications Librarian.

Publisher

Discount and Eligible Journals

Full Guidelines

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Full coverage for all ACS journals (with the exception of 4 journals currently offering fee waivers; see guidelines for details)

View ACS guidelines

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Full coverage for all ACM journals, conference proceedings, and magazines

View ACM guidelines

Cambridge University Press

Full coverage for certain fully open access and hybrid CUP journals

View CUP guidelines

De Gruyter

Full coverage for all hybrid De Gruyter journals

View De Gruyter guidelines

International Water Association (IWA)

Full coverage for IWA journals

View IWA guidelines

IOP (Institute of Physics)

Full coverage for most (but not all) hybrid and open access IOP journals

View IOP guidelines

Open Library of the Humanities

All OLH journals

OLH journals have no author fees. Their costs are covered by supporting institutions, including VCU Libraries.

PLOS

Full coverage for all PLOS journals, including interdisciplinary journal PLOS ONE

View PLOS guidelines

Rockefeller University Press

Full coverage for Journal of Cell Biology, Journal of Experimental Medicine, and Journal of General Physiology

View RUP guidelines

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

Full coverage for all hybrid RSC journals; 15% discount for fully open access journals

View RSC guidelines

SCOAP3

All SCOAP3 journals

SCOAP3 journals have no author fees. Their costs are covered by supporting institutions, including VCU Libraries.

Springer

Full coverage for hybrid open access journals

View Springer guidelines

Wiley

Full coverage for all hybrid and fully open access Wiley journals

View Wiley guidelines

Previous funding support

The VCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund was decommissioned on May 15, 2020

In 2019, Hindawi discontinued its institutional membership program that previously provided free publishing for VCU authors.

Memberships

VCU Libraries is a member and supporting institution of organizations that advocate for and support sustainable publishing infrastructure for open access books, journals, and educational resources.