How your researchers can easily identify their eligibility to publish OA

Author: Nicole Jackson

Senior Marketing Manager

It is important that researchers easily and clearly recognise when they are eligible for financial support to publish open access (OA). Let’s explore the various ways your researchers can get this information for publishing OA in Springer Nature journals: On the Journal Finder’s list of results, in the webpages of individual journals via the eligibility checker, and on the OA agreement country pages.

Librarians support their researchers as they navigate the complex landscape of scholarly communication and research dissemination. With an important role in advancing OA publishing, particularly for their researchers, librarians offer support regarding publication options, funder requirements, possible funding, and much more.

OA agreements support your researchers to publish OA, and are increasingly the primary way researchers finance OA publishing. It is therefore important that information about the option to publish OA with fees covered is made available and easily accessible to researchers along the way. This pertinent information supports their informed decisions and helps them maximise the visibility of their work. It helps to ensure that your institutions’ agreements are used for the benefit of the researchers and the scientific community.

To support authors in finding out about their eligibility for OA publishing funding, Springer Nature has different pathways that make this information available and clear to researchers. Whether they are browsing journal recommendations from the Journal Finder, exploring the webpages of specific journals of interest to them, or actively checking on availability of OA publishing coverage through their institutional affiliation, the information is there for them.

Looking for a relevant journal? Get information on APC coverage directly in your search results

Researchers search for relevant journals relating to their discipline, field of study, and research needs. Springer Nature’s Journal Finder provides researchers targeted recommendations based on their input of keywords. This saves researchers time and guesswork when they get a list of thematically-relevant journals, along with key journal information such as scope, article types accepted, and metrics.

As of May, they also get information on article processing charge (APC) coverage, right there for each result in the Journal Finder. At a glance, they can now directly see in which of their search results they are covered by an OA agreement , and what level of APC support is available to them. This information is personalised to their institutional affiliation, identified through their IP or self-declared.

_{Springer Nature’s Journal Finder showing APC coverage per journal}

Eligibility checker on journal pages: Finding out about OA funding, where it matters most

With the eligibility checker, researchers can easily and clearly identify whether they are eligible for OA publishing funding, directly on each of Springer Nature’s journals pages.

When a researcher is checking out a journal’s page, the eligibility checker informs on funding availability, based on the researcher’s institutional affiliation – either identified through an IP address or self-declared.

With the eligibility checker’s notification on the journal’s webpage, researchers can find out about APC coverage through the relevant OA agreement for the specific journal they are browsing.

_{Springer Nature’s eligibility checker on journal pages}

New country pages make it easy to learn about relevant OA agreements

It is now easier than ever to browse through Springer Nature’s OA agreement pages and find out about the various agreements by country and institution. For your researchers and anyone interested in finding out about the opportunity to publish OA with fees covered under an OA agreement, these pages offer a clear overview. 

Visit the OA agreements page where you’ll find the section with OA agreements by region.

_{Springer Nature’s OA agreement webpage showing agreements by region}

Under each region you’ll find the relevant countries for that region. Each country has a dedicated page with information about the relevant consortia and individual OA agreements, a full list of institutions that offer OA publishing coverage under any type of agreement, and information on upcoming author webinars relevant to them.

Whichever way your researchers choose to publish with Springer Nature, they’ll easily and clearly learn about their OA funding options.

Learn more about Springer Nature OA agreements and their benefits to libraries and institutions.

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• Empowering research in the United States (US) through open access agreements
• Increasing equity through open access agreements
• OA agreement stories: Dr Deepali Kuberkar, Tata Memorial Hospital 
• Accelerating open access at scale: Key insights for research librarians 
• OA agreements advance OA publishing in Asia and Oceania
• Facilitating the transition towards open access (OA) publishing
• Librarians in the age of open access: An evolving role
• Open access and the mission of the academic library
• Empowering librarians to promote open access

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