How will readers know which articles are available open access?
Which journals are currently participating in the Oxford Open initiative?
When will I be given the choice to pay a publication charge that will enable my paper to be freely available online?
Will an institutional print subscription to the participating Oxford Open journal entitle me to the 'reduced charge'?
How will I know whether my institution has a current online institutional subscription to a journal participating in the Oxford Open initiative?
Where can I find the appropriate open access publication charge form?
My paper has been accepted by an Oxford Open journal and I have been directed to the non-member version of the publication charge form - I believe this to be in error, what should I do?
Will there be colour figure charges or additional page charges if my paper exceeds a certain length?
How will you ensure that the payment for publication charges by authors has no influence on whether an article is accepted for publication in an Oxford Open journal?
How will authors at my institution receive the reduced-rate author charges?
Why is there a mixed model of funding under the Oxford Open model?
What will happen to the subscription prices of journals included in the initiative?
How will readers know which articles are available open access?
Articles will be clearly labelled as open access on the online Table of Contents page for users to access. Any etoc users will therefore be notified when an open access article is published in the Oxford Open initiative.
Which journals are currently participating in the Oxford Open initiative?
A full list of the current participating titles is available here.
When will I be given the choice to pay a publication charge that will enable my paper to be freely available online?
Upon acceptance of your paper you will be required to complete a license form. As the first step of this form you will be asked to indicate whether you would like to take the Oxford Open option and pay for open access for your paper.
Will an institutional print subscription to the participating Oxford Open journal entitle me to the 'reduced charge'?
No, only a full price online subscription to the relevant participating Oxford Open journal will entitle you to the reduced charge. However your institutional librarian may have purchased a combined print and online subscription to the journal, which would also entitle you to the reduced charge.
How will I know whether my institution has a current online institutional subscription to a journal participating in the Oxford Open initiative?
Payment of open access publication charges is administered through completion of an online form. A reduced charge version of the online form entitling corresponding authors to reduced publication charges will be available, but access to this form will be restricted. Only corresponding authors based at institutions with an active full price online subscription to the relevant participating journal will be able to access the reduced charge version of the form and thereby qualify for the lower charges. To find out whether your institution has a current active full price online subscription to an Oxford Open journal that has accepted your paper please click the following link from an institutional computer - Oxford Open test page - and select the Subscriber Test for the appropriate journal.
Please note that corresponding authors are required to complete an open access charge form upon acceptance of their manuscript. Therefore in order to qualify for the discounted open access charges your institution will need to have a full price online subscription to the Oxford Open journal at the time that your manuscript has been accepted for publication. Rebates will not be paid to authors if their institution takes out a subscription after the time of acceptance/open access charge form completion.
If you are directed to the online 'full charge' form this may mean that either (i) your institution has not purchased a full price online subscription, (ii) that your institution has not activated their full price online subscription by registering the appropriate IP addresses with us, or (iii) that you are not using a computer within the registered IP range. In case of queries, authors should contact their librarian in the first instance to confirm that their institution has an active full price online subscription to the Oxford Open journal that has accepted your paper for publication.
Where can I find the appropriate open access publication charge form?
A link will be provided in the Oxford Open author license form. Upon acceptance all corresponding authors will be required to complete this license form, and those authors selecting the open access option will then be required to complete an additional open access charge form online. Please see Forms for Authors.
My paper has been accepted by an Oxford Open journal and I have been directed to the non-member version of the publication charge form - I believe this to be in error, what should I do?
First of all, please ensure that you are trying to access the form from a computer physically based at your institution. In this way our systems will be able to identify whether your institution has a current full price online subscription to the Oxford Open journal that has accepted your paper for publication. If you are still directed to the 'full charge' form and believe this to be an error, please contact your librarian. Your librarian will be able to confirm whether your institution has a current active full price online subscription and can contact us by email for advice.
Will there be colour figure charges or additional page charges if my paper exceeds a certain length?
This will depend on the individual journal concerned. The optional open access charges are in addition to any normal (excess) page and colour charges, and so these charges will continue to apply where they are in place.
How will you ensure that the payment for publication charges by authors has no influence on whether an article is accepted for publication in an Oxford Open journal?
All manuscripts submitted to journals participating in the Oxford Open initiative will continue to be subject to the same rigorous process of editorial consideration and peer review, thereby ensuring that the high standards the community has come to expect from the journal are maintained. Under the Oxford Open model, the Editors of the journal will not be involved in correspondence with authors regarding payment of open access charges for their article. Instead, the author charge system will be administered by the publisher, Oxford Journals, once manuscripts have been accepted for publication. In this way authors should be reassured that their ability to pay publication charges will not influence editorial decisions.
How will authors at my institution receive the reduced-rate author charges?
Reduced-rate author charges will be available to corresponding authors from institutions with a current full price online subscription, and authors from developing countries will also be eligible for discounted rates (see Overview of Oxford Open for more details). Once a paper has been accepted, authors will receive an email directing them to an open access charge form. Your online subscriptions must be activated directly with Oxford Journals by the library contact at your organization in order to allow your authors access to the reduced open access charge form. If you access Oxford Journals content via a third-party gateway you will also need to ensure that you have activated your subscription directly with Oxford Journals in order to access the reduced charge form. An activation factsheet for organisations is available on our website
Why is there a mixed model of funding under the Oxford Open model?
We have chosen this model in consultation with authors and librarians. The ability of authors to pay publication charges is highly dependent on sponsoring agencies and research institutions making the necessary changes to their funding processes so that authors have the funds at their disposal.
For this reason we believe that any transition to an author-funded open access model will need to occur gradually. We hope that you will support the Oxford Open initiative by maintaining your online subscriptions to give your researchers who wish to publish in the journal in question the option of paying reduced author charges, should they choose to have their paper made freely available online. By doing this we hope to establish an accessible charging initiative that will actively encourage funding agencies to make further resources available for publication.
What will happen to the subscription prices of journals included in the initiative?
We are continuously monitoring how much original research material is made available freely available online via the Oxford Open initiative, and will adjust future online subscription prices accordingly. Generally speaking, the more open access content published in a journal, the lower its future online subscription prices will be.
Please see 2009 online-only price adjustments for more information.