Funding for open access publishing
Open access article publishing costs
We support open access publishing through agreements with publishers, which can cover either the full cost of publication or a percentage of it. We also offer support via the Open Access Publishing Fund, previously called the APC fund.
Publishers usually charge authors to publish their research via the Gold Open Access option. This is often an article processing charge (APC) but can also be a book processing charge (BPC), for open access publishing in monographs, edited books, and book chapters.
Currently, we only have deals in place for APCs. You can see details of all our agreements and discounts further down the page.
There are currently limited options to support BPCs and costs can be considerably higher than when publishing articles. We continue looking for initiatives and agreements to support our researchers as they emerge.
Scifree
Open access publishing agreements and discounts
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Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Transformative Model for Open Access publishing
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission.
Journals included: Publish open access in the journals and conference proceedings eligible under ACM OPEN
Eligible article types: Peer-reviewed research articles
How to apply: Via publisher website using your Manchester Met email address - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2025
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American Chemical Society (ACS)
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission
Journals included: Publish open access in all ACS journals, including ACS Omega, JACS Au, the ACS Au collection, and all ACS hybrid journals.
Eligible article types: All
How to apply: Via publisher website using your Manchester Met email address - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2024
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American Physiological Society (APS)
Read, Publish and Join Agreement
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission
Journals included: Publish open access in the Society’s twelve hybrid journals. Includes a one-year membership to APS for corresponding authors at participating institutions (new members only).
Eligible article types: Primary research or review articles
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2024
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American Psychological Association (APA)
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students, staff and alumni who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission.
Journals included: Publish open access in 86 APA-published hybrid journals and 15 hybrid Hogrefe titles.
The deal also provides a 25% APC discount in three fully OA Hogrefe journals.
A maximum consortium article cap is set at 531 articles. Should participating UK institutions exceed 531, a discount of 30 per cent only can be applied to the APC cost.
Eligible article types: Original peer-reviewed research articles or review articles
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends July 2026
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BMJ
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article acceptance
Journals included: Publish open access in 57 hybrid, transformative and fully open access journals on the BMJ platform.
Eligible article types: Original research articles only (original articles reporting on primary research)
How to apply: Via publisher website – no need to apply to the APC fund.
Ends December 2024
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission.
Journals included: Publish open access in the majority of CUP journals. See Cambridge University Press’s Open Access waivers and discounts tool to check if a journal is included.
Eligible article types: Research articles, review articles and rapid communications, brief reports and case reports.
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2024
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Company of Biologists
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students, staff and alumni who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission.
Journals included: Publish open access in the Society’s three hybrid journals:
- Development
- Journal of Cell Science
- Journal of Experimental Biology
Two of Company of Biologist’s fully open access journals are also included:
- Biology Open
- Disease Models and Mechanisms
Eligible article types: All
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2026
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Elsevier
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission.
Journals included: Publish open access in hybrid Core, Cell Press and the Lancet journals. To check if a journal is included in the agreement, please use Elsevier’s participating journal search.
Note:It also provides a 15% discount on APCs for open access publishing in fully Open Access Elsevier journals.
Eligible article types: Case reports, data in briefs, full-length articles, micro-articles, original software publication, practice guidelines, protocols, review articles, replication studies, short communications, short surveys, video articles. When publishing in eligible journals from The Lancet, full length articles are the only eligible article type.
How to apply:
- For hybrid Core, Cell Press and the Lancet journals via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
- For fully Open Access Elsevier journals via publisher website, if you need funding for the remaining APC, use the APC application form
Ends December 2024
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Frontiers
Discount Agreement
Author eligibility: Authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met.
Journals included: Articles published in Frontiers journals or hosted journals are eligible for a 10% discount on APC list price
Eligible article types: All
How to apply: If you need funding for the remaining APC, use the APC application form before submitting to the journal. You must secure additional funding before you apply via the publisher website
No end date
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MDPI
Author eligibility: Authors including university staff, undergraduate and postgraduate students, those on temporary or permanent research contracts, lecturers, and full professors, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission. Those granted an emeritus title are also included. Those with a temporary status (e.g., visiting researchers) qualify as affiliated authors if the research in the manuscript was partially or wholly conducted at Manchester Met.
Journals included: Articles published in MDPI journals are eligible for a 20% discount on APC list prices.
Note: Only available to authors who don’t have a discount from another source (reviewer vouchers, society membership etc.) All
Eligible article types: All
How to apply: If you need funding for the remaining APC, use the APC application form before submitting to the journal. You must secure additional funding before you apply via the publisher website
Ends December 2024
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Microbiology Society
Publish and Read Agreement
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students, staff and alumni who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article acceptance.
Journals included: Publish open access in the Society’s following journals:
- International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
- Journal of General Virology
- Journal of Medical Microbiology
- Microbiology
- Microbial Genomics (OA)
- Access Microbiology (OA)
Eligible article types: All
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2024
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Oxford University Press (OUP)
Author eligibility: Authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission.
Journals included: Publish open access in over 400 hybrid and fully open access journals.
Eligible article types: Research article, review article, brief report, or case report. Book reviews and articles published in supplements are not included.
How to apply: Via publisher website using your Manchester Met email address - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2025
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PLOS
Author eligibility: Authors (contributing and/or corresponding), including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission.
Journals included: Publish open access in the following PLOS journals:
- PLOS Complex Systems
- PLOS Computational Biology
- PLOS Digital Health
- PLOS Genetics
- PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
- PLOS ONE
- PLOS Pathogens
- PLOS Climate
- PLOS Global Public Health
- PLOS Mental Health
- PLOS Water
- PLOS Medicine
- PLOS Biology
- PLOS Sustainability and Transformation
Eligible article types: All
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2024
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Royal Society
Open Access Membership Agreement
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission.
Journals included: Articles published in Royal Society journals are eligible for a 25% discount on APC list prices.
Eligible article types: All
How to apply: Via publisher website – if you need funding for the remaining APC, use the APC application form
Ends December 2025
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Royal Society of Chemistry
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission.
Journals included: Publish open access in all RSC hybrid journals.
Note: this does not cover fully Open Access journals.
Eligible article types: Peer reviewed articles, including full papers, communications, and reviews. Editorials and corrections are not included.
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
End December 2024
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Sage
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article acceptance.
Journals included: Publish open access in Sage’s hybrid journals in their SAGE Choice program.
Note: This agreement entitles our author to a 20% discount on APCs for fully Open Access Sage journals.
Eligible article types: Includes but not limited to: original research papers, review papers, brief communications, short reports, case reports. Articles published as part of commercially sponsored supplements, errata, book reviews, editorials, published abstracts, call for papers, news items or similar are excluded.
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2024
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Springer
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article submission.
Journals included: Publish open access in more than 2000 Springer, Palgrave and Nature hybrid journals
Article processing charges for fully open access journals (e.g. BMC, Springer Open and NPJ) are NOT included in the agreement, but it does include a 15% discount on the APC. Apply to the APC fund for support paying the remainder of the cost.
Eligible article types:
- Original Paper – Standard article, generally presenting new results which may also be referred to as Original Research, Original Article, Original Paper or Research Paper.
- Review Paper – Standard article, interpreting previously published results.
- Brief Communication – Short article submitted for rapid publication that exhibits the same structure as a standard article.
- Continuing Education – Article forming integral part of further education (usually medical).
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2025
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Taylor and Francis
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students, staff and alumni who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article acceptance.
Journals included: Publish open access in more than 2000 Taylor & Francis hybrid (Open Select) and fully open access journals.
Eligible article types: Original research articles. Other types of paper, such as editorials, announcements, and book reviews are not included.
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2025
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Wiley
Author eligibility: Corresponding authors, including all undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff, who are affiliated with Manchester Met at the point of article acceptance.
Journals included: Publish open access in all Wiley hybrid and fully Open Access journals and 240 fully Open Access Hindawi journals.
This is until Wiley’s national Open Access fund is depleted.
Please check back here if publishing later in the year, or email [email protected], to check if your article will be eligible.
Eligible article types: Primary research or a review articles. Other article types e.g. letters, editorials etc. are not included.
How to apply: Via publisher website - no need to apply to APC fund
Ends December 2025
Open Access Publishing Fund (OAPF)
You can also apply for funding from the University Open Access Publishing Fund, using the Open Access Publishing Fund application form when:
- You are applying for funding towards an APC or BPC and either:
- We do not have a deal in place with your publisher
- The relevant deal only covers a percentage of the cost, and you want to request support to pay the remaining cost.
Before applying for funding, check to see whether we have an open access publishing agreement or discount with the publisher.
The Open Access Publishing Fund is limited, and you will need to have approval from your Faculty Director of Research unless you are publishing a UKRI-funded article, in which case your application will be automatically approved. Read the Open Access Publishing Fund application form for further details on approval criteria.
To apply for funding:
- Discuss publication options with your Faculty Director of Research or Research Centre Head, unless UKRI-funded.
- When support has been agreed, fill in the Open Access Publishing Fund application form.
- Send a copy of your manuscript to [email protected] letting us know in the email that you have submitted an application form
- We will seek formal confirmation from your Faculty Director of Research unless you’re applying for a UKRI-funded article.
- Once approved we will process the payment
APC or BPC using other funding
If you decide to pay for an APC or BPC using other Manchester Met funds, please use the SAP code for APCs, which can be used with any cost centre: GL Code 751070 Article Processing Charges (APC).
We can then track any APC or BPC payments through our finance systems for reporting purposes.