Rice Author Open Access Fees: OA Journal Author Fund

Fondren Library's Open Access (OA) Author Fund is designed to heighten the visibility and accessibility of the University's scholarship and to support current Rice employees and students who choose to publish in OA journals that require author fees for accepted manuscripts.

Author eligibility

All current Rice faculty, staff, students, and post-docs are eligible to apply for funding. Alumni, visiting scholars, and complementary employees are not eligible.

Authors applying for funds must be corresponding authors. Preference is given to research or scholarship primarily conducted by Rice employees or students.

Authors are expected to exhaust other funding sources and use appropriate research grant funds to pay for publication charges, when possible. In some cases, the author may receive funding after supplying explanations for why discretionary grant funding was used for other purposes. Authors should consider the library funds as a last resort when no other sources of funding are available.

Journal eligibility

Inquiring authors are encouraged to consult with the OA Author Fund reviewers regarding the eligibility of open access journals prior to submitting manuscripts. Email questions to openaccess@rice.edu.

Authors applying for open access author funds must be publishing in journals that meet the criteria below:

• Provide unfettered access to all peer-reviewed articles--be an entirely open access journal. Journals with a hybrid open access model (subscription-based journals that allow authors to make individual articles open access immediately on payment of an article publication charge) are not eligible.
• Be published by a member organization of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association OR adhere to its Code of Conduct.
• Have a standard article fee schedule publicly posted.
• Be listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Exceptions to a DOAJ listing may be made if the journal meets other criteria and the OA funding review committee members verify journal credibility.

Article eligibility

Articles must:

• Be a peer-reviewed article submitted to an open access journal.
• Have a publication status of "accepted for publication." Funds will not be encumbered for manuscripts that are still being written or have been submitted.
• Not have been published prior to the author's request for funds. Articles already published are ineligible.

Fund cap, disbursement, and administration

Fund cap

Funds  may be used to pay article processing charges up to $1,500 per article, but not color, page, or image charges.

Publication charges will be paid to the publisher on behalf of an author on a first-come-first-serve basis. Once the fund is expended, there will be no more funds until the next fiscal year.

A requesting author may be awarded funding once per fiscal year.

Fund disbursement

• Requests may be made upon acceptance.
• Article processing charges of $1500 or less: Once a request has been approved, the requesting author may direct the journal to send invoices to Fondren Library. Or, you may send a publisher's invoice to eresources@rice.edu.
• Article processing charges more than $1500: For article processing charges over $1,500, authors are responsible for paying the full amount via their department and requesting an interdepartmental transfer (IDT) for the library's portion. 
• Funds may only be applied to the publisher's invoices. Individual authors will not be reimbursed or paid for retroactive publications.
• For articles with two Rice corresponding authors, reimbursement funds may be split among their departments.

Request review

Funding will be distributed through a rolling review process.

Additional criteria

Fondren Library will make available a copy of every funded article in the Rice Research Repository (R-3), a publishing platform that highlights Rice scholarship.

Applying for funds

To apply for funding, fill out the Fondren Library APC Request Form. Email openaccess@rice.edu with any questions.