Many journal publishers will charge an article processing charge (APC) or publication fee in order for the author to publish their work in an open access repository. These fees are usually a couple hundred to several thousand dollars an article. Some publishers will waive this fee or offer a discount on the fee under some circumstances, usually if the author is in financial need. Some institutions will cover these fees for the author.  UNBC offers a Research Strategic Initiatives Grant (RSIG) which can be used to cover APCs.  Apply for the RSIG through Romeo.

Author's addenda are for creating additions to licenses when negotiating contracts with publishers.

Currently the following publishers provide discounts to UNBC scholars for APCs:

UNBC Library has signed a license (2022-2024) with the American Chemical Society to offer Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)-affiliated authors a $250 USD flat discount.  APC discount is applied upon submission of manuscript. Authors must identify their institutional affiliation in order to qualify for the discount.

UNBC Library has signed a license with Cambridge University Press (2022-2024) to offer Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)-affiliated authors uncapped, no-cost Open Access publishing in all hybrid and gold OA Cambridge journals (including journals in the "Cambridge Prisms" and "Research Directions" series).  Cambridge uses an automated system so UNBC authors only need to identify themselves as affiliated with UNBC to have the APC waiver applied.

UNBC Library has signed a license with Canadian Science Publishing (2023-2025) for unlimited Open Access publishing in 5 selected journals:

1. Biochemistry and Cell Biology
2. Canadian Journal of Physics
3. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
4. Genome
5. Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering

For the remaining CSP journals, Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)-affiliated authors receive a 25% APC discount.

UNBC Library has signed a license with Elsevier (2024-2026) to offer Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)-affiliated authors a 100% discount on APCs for hybrid journals and 20% discount on Gold (native) OA journals(reducing to 15% in 2025-26 and 10% in 2027).   APC discount is applied upon submission of manuscript . Authors must identify their institutional affiliation in order to qualify for the discount.  See title list and submission workflow documents at the bottom of this page.

JAFSCD (Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development) is now Open Access and the $500 APC is waived as the Library is a "shareholder".

UNBC Library has signed a "publish and read" license with the Microbiology Society (2022-2024).  This license covers unlimited OA publishing: any article published in Society journals where the corresponding author is from a Publish and Read institution will be OA by default with no APCs.

Microbiology Society titles include:

• Microbiology
• Journal of General Virology
• Journal of Medical Microbiology
• Microbial Genomics
• International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology
• Access Microbiology
• JMM Case Reports

UNBC Library has signed a license with Oxford University Press (2024-2026) to offer Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)-affiliated authors a 100% discount on APCs for hybrid journals and 10% discount on Gold (native) OA journals.  APC discount is applied upon submission of manuscript . Authors must identify their institutional affiliation in order to qualify for the discount.  See title list and submission workflow documents at the bottom of this page.

There is an opportunity for UNBC to become a member of PLOS CAP which would allow UNBC authors to publish in PLOS Biology and PLOS Medicine for free.  If you are interested in publishing in PLOS Biology or PLOS Medicine, please contact Heather Empey (heather.empey@unbc.ca)

UNBC Library has signed a license with the Royal Society of Chemistry (2022-2024) to offer Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)--affilated authors a 15% APC discount.  The APC discount process should be automatic following the steps below:

• Author submits article to a hybrid RSC journal following the standard process.
• On acceptance of the manuscript, authors receive an email with a link to the licensing system.
• The system automatically identifies the eligibility of the author based on the email domain (authors must use their institutional email in order to qualify for the discount).
• The author selects either the standard license (subscription article) or Open Access license.  If the author chooses Open Access, they are given the option of two Creative Commons licenses (CC-BY or CC-BY NC).

UNBC Library has signed a license with SAGE (2024-2026) to offer Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)-affiliated authors a 100% discount on APCs for hybrid journals and 40% discount on Gold (native) OA journals.  APC discount is applied upon submission of manuscript . Authors must identify their institutional affiliation in order to qualify for the discount.  The list of Sage journals that are Gold (native) Open Access is available at on the Sage Choice website.  This link also lists any Sage journals that are not eligible for the APC waiver. 

The process for identification, verification, and confirmation of eligible articles is structured per the following:

• Upon an Eligible Article, accepted in a Hybrid Publishing Title, with an Eligible Corresponding Author entering Publisher’s production system, all authors will be contacted by the Publisher to inform them of their right to publish the Eligible Article as Open Access with no direct cost. This will make clear that Eligible Authors do not need to pay APCs for Open Access Articles published in Hybrid Journals.
• Transacting author (who can be any of the Article authors, including the Eligible Corresponding Author) enters the Publisher’s open access portal and confirms acceptance of Open Access publishing for the Eligible Article.
• Transacting author confirms their identity and the copyright ownership status of the Eligible Article.
• Transacting author will only be offered a Creative Commons license Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY or CC-BYNC). Publisher’s open access portal will provide explanatory text alerting author to why license(s) is displayed. Author may contact Publisher’s OA customer service if is another license is required.
• Transacting author digitally signs the Open Access license. If the transacting author rejects Open Access publishing of the Eligible Article, the Eligible Article will be published in a traditional subscription only format, not as Open Access.

The process for articles accepted in Gold journals will be similar to the above, with the exception that authors will be notified of their eligibility for the 40% APC discount.

UNBC Library has signed a license with Wiley (2023-2024) to offer Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)-affiliated authors uncapped, no-cost Open Access publishing in all hybrid Wiley journals. (see Wiley Hybrid Journal title list at the bottom of this page)  APC discount is applied upon submission of manuscript . Authors must identify their institutional affiliation in order to qualify for the discount.

Unfortunately, articles accepted for publication in Wiley's gold journals are not eligible under this agreement.  UNBC authors will continue to be charged APCs for accepted articles in these journals. 

Authors have basic rights that they can use to negotiate with the journal in order to make their work more accessible. Authors can add addenda to publishing agreements in order to make their work available in an open access repository. Resources such as SHERPA/RoMEO compile access policies for countless journal publishers but this is not a comprehensive list and in some cases it is necessary to contact the journal publisher directly to ask about the policies for a specific journal title.