Back in April 2011 we launched the BU Open Access Publication Fund. This is a dedicated central budget that has been launched in response to, and in support of, developments in research communication and publication trends. The fund is also to support research in complying with some of the major funding bodies who have introduced open access publishing requirements as a condition of their grants.
The fund is available for use by any BU author ready to submit a completed article for publication who wishes to make their output freely and openly accessible. Please note that an application has to be submitted to the BU Open Access Publication Fund before the article is submitted for publication.
The process follows the Application and Approval Procedures and Policy. To apply to the BU Open Access publication fund, please see below:
1. All applications should consist of the following information
- A copy of the manuscript
- Declaration that no external publishing funds are available
- The completed Application Checklist and all other relevant required information should be emailed to OpenAccess@bournemouth.ac.uk
2. Upon receipt of your application, the BU Open Access team will contact the relevant REF UoA Teams to seek support for the application and obtain an indicative star ranking of the proposed open access publication based on the REF criteria for assessing quality of outputs.
3. All decisions regarding funding will be made in consultation with the relevant UoA Leader(s), Outputs champion(s) or DDRPP.
4. All Open Access Funding applications received at OpenAccess@bournemouth.ac.uk will be considered within FIVE working days, after which the applicants will be contacted either to provide more information or with information regarding the outcome of their application.
If you have any questions about the Fund then please direct them to OpenAccess@bournemouth.ac.uk
Further information: BU OA Publication Fund Application and Approval Procedures and Policy
FHSS academics teaching in Nepal
New weight change BU paper
One week to go! | The 16th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference
Geography and Environmental Studies academics – would you like to get more involved in preparing our next REF submission?
Congratulations to three former BU staff
MSCA Staff Exchanges 2024 Call – internal deadline
Applications are now open for 2025 ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships!
Horizon Europe – ERC CoG and MSCA SE webinars
MaGMap: Mass Grave Mapping
ERC grants – series of webinars
it is really good that this open access fund exists. it is crucial if we are to continue to support research not just of ‘big name professors’, but of researchers across the spectrum including postdoc and doctoral students. but i am guessing this is not a limitless budget – and it may not be the place to ask this question but how does this fit with the kpis in the current research strategy?
also, I am a member of the psa, the professional association for political scientists, i thought it might be useful to feed in their views. http://www.psa.ac.uk/political-insight/blog/open-access-and-psa
Hi Heather
Apologies for the delayed response but I have just see your comment. The budget available is extremely generous. We’ve been running the scheme since April 2011 and have not to date exceeded what funding is available. The Fund is open to academics and PGR students and we have funded a healthy number of OA publications for the latter. The Fund features in the University’s research strategy via the R&KEO Delivery Plan and the currently draft institutional development plan for RKE, and is also mentioned in the Schools’ Delivery Plans.
Please do email me if you have any further queries.
Julie
The open access fee is quite high for most journal publishers. Is it likely then that journals with a high ABS rating will be given priority. So for example if you want to publish in a 2* journal then is it better to go down the green route (via BURO) than the gold route as compared to a 4* journal. The issue ofcourse is that certain articles are best suited to the lower ranked journals (nothing to do with the rank maybe but with the audience it addresses). Any thoughts on this!
Also, how long would the approval process take?
Thank you.
Hi Suranjita,
Currently each application to the fund is judged on its own merits based on the justification given by the author.
We are hoping to receive increased volumes of applications over the next few months/years, if this happens we may have to consider competitive selection of the articles we support unfortunately however, this hasn’t been an issue to date.
In regards to the turnaround for approval, most applications received this year have been responded to in 1 day.
Hope this information helps, feel free to contact me directly if you have any further queries.
Shelly
Hi
This is probably a really silly question but do you submit the paper to the Journal for review before or after you submit the Appendix 1 for funding.
I am a little confused as one of the questions on the Appendix is cost of OA publication so this would mean that I submit the paper first ? This is my first attempt of submission.
Thanks in advance
Daisy
Hi Daisy,
If submitting to a pure open access journal I would advise that you apply to the fund prior to submission, if you are submitting to a traditional/hybrid journal I would recommend you apply upon acceptance of your article.
Kind regards, Shelly