Open Access Publishing

Thomas Jefferson University provides financial support to faculty, students, and staff who wish to publish in Open Access (OA) journals through its Open Access Fund. Financial support covers Article Processing Charges (APC)*.

As part of Jefferson's commitment to the Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity (COPE), this fund will raise awareness of the high-quality Open Access publishing options and increase the reach and impact of Jefferson scholarship.

Open Access Fund Policy:

• The maximum support Jefferson will provide is $2,500 per article for the fiscal year (July 1 - June 30)
• A lead author will only receive funding once per fiscal year, regardless of the amount provided
• The amount is based on the number of contributing authors to the article
  For example: If a paper has two authors, and one is from an outside institution, with an APC of $1,000, Jefferson would cover $500 of the cost.)
• Funds will be provided on a first-come, first-approved basis
• If the article is to appear in an OA journal with an individual membership fee (lifetime or annual) that costs less than or equal to the APC, the fund will reimburse the membership fee instead of the APC*
• We ask that funding recipients include the following statement in their acknowledgments:
  Publication made possible in part by support from the Thomas Jefferson University Open Access Fund
• Articles that receive funding will be uploaded to the Jefferson Digital Commons (JDC)

Authors or publishers with sufficient funding from grants or contracts should not apply. We encourage researchers to include a line-item on future grant proposals for dissemination or open access costs.

Journal Qualifications:

• The journal must have one or more of the following:
  • a listing in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • membership in the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)
  • or adherence to the OASPA Code of Conduct
    • uses DOIs as permanent identifiers;
    • journals must have International Standard Serial Numbers;
    • deposits content with a long-term digital preservation or archiving program;
    • allows generous reuse in accordance with a CC BY, CC BY-SA or CC BY-NC license;
    • has a deposit policy registered with a deposit policy registry;
    • has a standard article fee schedule publicly posted;
    • has a policy to waive fees in cases of economic hardship
• Hybrid publications that make some articles free while charging subscriptions for others are ineligible for funding.

If your journal does not meet the criteria listed above, you may apply for a waiver. To be considered, include with your application a letter that explains why the journal is respected in its field with confirmation from a supervisor and/or Jefferson librarian. . Please review our guide on predatory/deceptive publishing and if you would like assistance determining the eligibility of a journal, please email AskALibrarian@jefferson.edu.

To apply:

First, email Elizabeth.TenHave@jefferson.edu to find out if funds remain for the year. If funds are available, complete this application once your article has been accepted and you have an invoice for the APC. You will be notified via email (typically within 10 business days) with a decision and instruction for payment.

Need assistance with writing or getting your work published? Contact the Office for Professional Writing, Publishing, and Communication for a free consultation.

Articles funded by the Jefferson Open Access fund are included in the documents below according to the fiscal year in which they were funded and published.