Open Access - Open Access at PCOM

Interested in making your research available for free and keeping the copyright for your work? PCOM Library may be able to cover author fees for publishing an open access article based on the following rules:

1. PCOM Library covers author fees for ONLY the journals listed at these links: BioMed Central, SpringerOpen, and specific PLOS journals (PLOS One, PLOS Biology, and PLOS Medicine). Other Springer journals may be covered under the Lyrasis Open Access agreement if they meet additional criteria.
2. The requester must be first author and/or corresponding author of the submitted paper. The submission must be made using a PCOM email address and following the publisher's submission instructions listed below.
3. The requester must be a full-time PCOM affiliate (faculty, staff, resident, or student) at time of submission.
4. This support is based on available funds in the library annual budget.
5. Before submitting, please contact Scholarly Communications librarian Jackie Werner. These criteria and processes are subject to change based on budget and publisher policies; email for the most up-to-date information.

If these criteria don't apply, consider the alternatives listed under Other Open Access Options below. 

Through the Library's membership with BioMed Central, the Library may pay for up to two accepted manuscripts in a 12 month period.

How to submit:

1. Review PCOM Library's open access coverage criteria. Submissions that do not meet these criteria will not be covered.
2. Contact Jackie Werner to confirm funding is available.
3. Submit using your PCOM email address.
4. Select "I accept responsibility for paying the processing charge" option; upon acceptance, BMC will contact the library to confirm your affiliation and cover your fees.

BioMed Central is an STM (science, technology, and medicine) publisher of peer-reviewed open access journals. The portfolio of journals spans all areas of biology, biomedicine, and medicine. All original research articles published by BioMed Central are made freely accessible online immediately upon publication. Authors publishing with BioMed Central retain the copyright to their work, licensing it under the Creative Commons Attribution License which allows articles to be re-used and re-distributed without restriction, as long as the original work is correctly cited. 

Lyrasis members, including PCOM affiliates, can publish certain original research articles in SpringerNature as open access with no author fees. Important: Lyrasis has different criteria for covering author fees than PCOM accounts. Be sure to complete Steps 1 and 2 to confirm your eligibility.

How to submit:

1. Using the Springer Nature Link Journal and Funding Finder, search for a specific journal or for a topic. If the Publishing Model is Hybrid and "100% Funding is Available", author fees may be covered under the Lyrasis agreement. If the Publishing Model is Open and "100% Funding is Available", see the BioMedCentral and SpringerOpen instructions.

1. Click on "100% Funding is Available" to read the conditions for approval for that journal. Submissions must fall under the listed article types to be covered.
2. Review PCOM Library's open access coverage criteria.
3. Contact Jackie Werner to confirm your submission meets the criteria.
4. Submit using your PCOM email address.
5. Select "I accept responsibility for paying the processing charge" option; upon acceptance, Springer will contact the library to confirm your affiliation.

The Library can cover publication fees for three PLOS journals: PLOS ONE, PLOS Biology, and PLOS Medicine. The Library may pay for up to two accepted manuscripts in a 12 month period.

How to submit:

1. Review PCOM Library's open access coverage criteria. Submissions that do not meet these criteria will not be covered.
2. Contact Jackie Werner to confirm funding is available.
3. Submit using your PCOM email address.

PLOS ONE is the world’s first multidisciplinary open access journal and accepts scientifically rigorous research, regardless of novelty. PLOS ONE features original research from the natural sciences, medical research, engineering, as well as the related social sciences and humanities that will contribute to the base of scientific knowledge. By not excluding research on the basis of subject area, PLOS ONE facilitates the discovery of connections between research whether within or between disciplines. The journal’s publication criteria are based on high ethical standards and the rigor of the methodology and conclusions reported. PLOS Biology publishes significant advances across the biological sciences, while PLOS Medicine publishes articles of general interest on biomedical, environmental, social and political determinants of health. The journal emphasizes work that advances clinical practice, health policy or pathophysiological understanding to benefit health in a variety of settings.

Not covered by PCOM Library's open access funding policies? You have other options that don't include paying the author fee out of pocket.

• Publish in a journal with no or reduced author fees. Subscription journals normally do not require author fees to publish non-open access articles. PCOM Library's BMJ Case Reports fellowship allows for free submission and publishing, but not open access; contact Jackie Werner for the fellowship code if submitting there. Some open access journals, such as Cureus, waive author fees for articles meeting certain criteria (ex. case reports, articles with fewer than five authors, etc.). Read a journal’s Instructions for Authors before submitting--legitimate journals will clearly outline what, if any, fees are required for publication.
• Look for funding elsewhere. Open access fees can be written into grants. Co-authors from other institutions, especially PIs, may have open access funds available. PCOM faculty may be able to request funds from their department. 
• Consider open access after publishing. If you’re committed to open access but can’t afford the author fee, consider green open access: making a non-open access article freely available after publication. Most publishers allow an earlier version of non-open access articles to be posted open access with certain restrictions. Keep your postprint (Word document of the manuscript after peer review but before formatting into a PDF) and contact Jackie Werner to determine if it can be posted on DigitalCommons@PCOM.

DigitalCommons@PCOM is an electronic archive, housing published and unpublished work by PCOM faculty and students as well as publications of classes, departments, and offices. The DigitalCommons provides electronic preservation and persistent access worldwide to the scholarly and creative works of the PCOM community.