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Scholarly Communication

OU Libraries guides scholars in matters relating to scholarly communication, which we define as the formal and informal ways research and scholarly works are created, evaluated, disseminated, preserved, used, and transformed.

Relaunch of the Open Access Fund

OU Libraries are excited to announce the re-opening of the Open Access Publishing Fund. 

The current fund will be open on a first-time, first-serve basis until the funds are depleted. There are no plans at this time for ongoing funding. 

Please consult the criteria below before applying.

BEFORE YOU SUBMIT A MANUSCRIPT to a journal, first check OU Libraries’ Publisher Agreements webpage to identify any transformative publishing agreements and publishing memberships that support free open-access publishing. 

If none of the journals in our agreements fit your manuscript, review the Selecting Where to Publish guide for assistance in selecting a journal and determining journal quality.

If you need assistance, contact your library liaison. 

OA fund criteria (2024)

  • Applications can be submitted for accepted manuscripts, or newly published, peer-reviewed articles, and book chapter in open access journals or books that charge a publication fee associated with the cost of making an article freely available.
  • Only articles to be published without an embargo in fully open (GOLD OA) journals or books will be funded. 
  • Authors co-authoring with OU graduate students will be given priority. 
  • Auxiliary materials (data sets, appendix, survey instruments, etc.) for funded articles must be submitted to OU’s institutional repository upon publication.

Journal requirements:

  • Journal publishers should be listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), book publishers should be part of the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) Trusted Platform Network, and/or discoverable through indexing databases.
  • Publishers should be members of the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), or meet the Code of Conduct, or have a comparable code of ethics available from their website. 

*NOTE: We recognize that OA publications will look different across disciplines and that some new journals may not meet these requirements. We recommend confirming a journal’s legitimacy and authority before submitting and, if needed, seeking assistance from your library department liaison. 

Author requirements: 

  • All OU faculty members and graduate students are eligible to apply (excluding OUWB faculty and students).  
  • Funded researchers must demonstrate that they have exhausted their research funding before applying. 
  • The requesting OU author must be listed as the first or corresponding author.
  • Requests will be considered for individual authors no more than once per 12-month cycle.
  • Authors must pay the open-access publishing fee directly to the publisher and submit payment for reimbursement from OU Libraries. Only authors who have received pre-approval will be reimbursed. *Authors for whom pre-payment presents a barrier to publishing should contact us to discuss other possible options. 

Amount limits:

  • Funding requests cannot exceed $3,000.
  • Funding is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are depleted. 

    ONLY SUBMIT AN APPLICATION ONCE YOUR MANUSCRIPT HAS BEEN ACCEPTED