How to publish open access with BMC: Funding options explained
Author: Siobhan Bates
If you’re an early-career researcher (ECR), publishing open access can sometimes feel daunting, especially when it comes to understanding fees, funding, and the different open access models used across the publishing landscape. In fact, many ECRs are simply unaware that their institution may already have support in place to help cover open access publishing costs. In this guide, we’ll explain the essentials and show you how to quickly check whether your open access fees could be covered.
Last year, we celebrated 25 years of publishing high-quality, widely accessible research through BMC (formerly known as BioMed Central). Since we launched, our mission has remained the same: to pioneer openly available research and support authors at every career stage through every step of the publishing journey. This blog article explores how publishing in our fully open access (OA) journals shares your work with BMC’s 6 million monthly readers, as well as exploring your funding options.
Pioneering OA publishing
In 2000, BMC (then BioMed Central) made high quality research open to every reader – and in making the open access model sustainable, we changed the world of academic publishing.
Since then, we’ve anticipated many open science trends that are now industry standards; we’ve introduced transparent peer-review processes across a wide range of titles; and we’ve encouraged authors to publish a variety of article types, including datasets and methodologies, to support the reproducibility of their research.
Funders, research institutes, and governments are increasingly calling for OA publishing, and we continue to fully support the mission to make knowledge sharing more equitable. OA articles have no paywalls, allowing anyone, anywhere to access, read, and cite the latest scientific advances. We believe that OA has a crucial role in addressing current and future global challenges by ensuring that peer-reviewed knowledge reaches the widest possible audience.
BMC’s portfolio now spans more than 300 fully OA journals across 16 disciplines. Explore the full portfolio of BMC journals.
Watch the video to explore how we are advancing open, trusted, and community-led science for the future.
Why publish OA with BMC?
Our publishing model is guided by four key tenets:
Trust: Our monthly readership of 6 million demonstrates that the research community trusts our publications. We care about quality research, and we were one of the first publishers to have a dedicated scientific integrity team. All our editors are carefully selected and trained.
Community: Our diverse community of more than 20,000 editorial board members will guide your research through the peer-review process. They play an essential role in helping shape the vision of the journals in our portfolio and representing researchers globally.
Support: We’ll be with you at every step of the publishing journey. We’ll help you find the right home for your research. And once you’ve chosen a journal and submitted your article, we’ll provide personal feedback and ensure that the peer-review process is both rigorous and constructive.
Inclusivity: We offer a home to all robust research. By including datasets and null results, we help researchers avoid collecting the same data twice or repeating experiments that have already been done and led to negative results.
Together, these principles are designed to make publishing open access feel more transparent and supportive, especially for researchers early in their careers who are navigating the process for the first time.
Learn more about the benefits of publishing open access, including increased citation and usage.
"The whole process was researcher-centred and there was high cooperation between the editorial team and the authors.”
– Author, BMC Medical Education
BMC open access funding options
Navigating different OA models can be tiring, so we ensure that our process is as smooth and transparent as possible for researchers at all career stages.
Our article processing charge (APC) covers all the work involved in getting your manuscript into top shape before publication; managing the peer-review process; proofreading and lay-outing your article; and ensuring that it reaches a wide audience.
A full list of the APCs for all our journals is easily accessible on our dedicated BMC website. Once your manuscript is accepted, the APC can be paid by your funder, your institution, your employer, or yourself.
If your institution has a funding agreement in place with Springer Nature, part or all of the APC could already be covered. This is a key point for ECRs: in many cases, your university or institution may already have an open access agreement that covers your fees, but you won’t know until you check.
"The manuscript handling process was very careful yet also very swift. The reviewers' comments were precise and valuable.”
– Author, Stem Cell Research & Therapy
How to find out whether your APC is covered by an OA agreement
Step 1: Go to the homepage of your journal of choice and click on ‘Explore open access funding’ underneath the ‘Submit your manuscript’ button.
Step 2: Institutions are pre-filled based on your IP address, but you can update this to reflect your best fit or that of your co-authors.
Step 3: If your university or institution has an agreement with Springer Nature, the eligibility checker will let you know your funding options.
Tip: If you’re unsure which institution to select (for example, if you have multiple affiliations or international co-authors), try checking each relevant affiliation to see what funding options apply.
Our four-step process for publishing your research with BMC
Submission: Once you’ve chosen the right BMC journal for your work, you can submit your manuscript online. The first step is to navigate to the journal’s website, click ‘Submission guidelines’, and check whether your article meets the formatting and content requirements. When it’s ready to go, click the ‘Submit manuscript’ button.
Peer review: Once your manuscript has been received, if appropriate for the journal, peer reviewers will rigorously evaluate it, assessing the validity of the work, and for our selective journals, the significance of the research. You may be required to make revisions based on their feedback.
Acceptance and publication: Once accepted, your manuscript will be prepared for publication. This is the time when you’ll be charged the APC fee, unless it is already covered through an institutional agreement. We will also add relevant metadata to make sure your article can be discovered easily by those it could benefit. The final article will then be published online and made freely accessible.
Post-publication: After publication, you can track the impact of your work through metrics such as downloads, citations, and social-media mentions. We will provide tools and support to help you maximize the visibility of your research.
Building an equitable future
We remain committed to being a trusted partner for our authors and readers; providing a platform that reaches millions of readers; championing inclusive publishing; and building a diverse community of contributors who feel supported.
For early-career researchers, this means not only having a rigorous publishing home for your work, but also clearer routes to open access — including funding support through open access agreements where available.
If you’re interested in joining us to advance openness, transparency, and quality in community-led research, you can find out more about open access funding options with BMC.
Related Content:
Author: Siobhan Bates
Siobhan Bates is a seasoned Marketing Manager based in London, specializing in B2C Content Marketing. With a Master’s degree from The University of Warwick and Chartered Marketer status (CIM), she is passionate about developing valuable resources that support and empower the academic community. Siobhan oversees the creation of content for Springer Nature Collections, brands, and imprints.
Further reading
