Open Access funding
Funding is available for Open Access publishing depending on how your research was funded. We currently have four Open Access funds available. Information on how each fund is allocated, eligibility criteria, and how to apply, is listed below. Please read the eligibility criteria carefully before applying for funding. Each request will be assessed against this criteria.
British Heart Foundation funding
The University receives a block grant from the British Heart Foundation to cover the cost of Open Access for publications where British Heart Foundation funding is acknowledged.
The following publication type can usually be funded:
- Original research journal articles
Only article processing charges (APCs) can be funded; other publication charges cannot be paid for.
Eligibility criteria:
- The publication must acknowledge British Heart Foundation funding.
- The corresponding author must be a researcher at the University of Liverpool (staff member or PGR student) or the grant holder must be based here.
- We cannot use the fund for those on honorary contracts.
- The output cannot have already been published.
- The output must be made available with the CC-BY licence.
- When submitting to a fully open access journal (see the Directory of Open Access Journals), a Gold Open Access Request form must be completed prior to submission.
Cancer Research UK funding
The University receives a block grant from Cancer Research UK to cover the cost of Open Access for publications where Cancer Research UK funding is acknowledged. Funding is received in October and allocated throughout the year by the Open Access Team in the Library.
The following publication type can usually be funded:
- Original research journal articles
Only article processing charges (APCs) can be funded; other publication charges cannot be paid for.
Eligibility criteria:
- The publication must acknowledge Cancer Research UK funding.
- The corresponding author must be a researcher at the University of Liverpool (staff member or PGR student) or the grant holder must be based here.
- We cannot use the fund for those on honorary contracts.
- The output cannot have already been published.
- The output must be made available with the CC-BY licence.
- When submitting to a fully open access journal (see the Directory of Open Access Journals), a Gold Open Access Request form must be completed prior to submission.
Institutional Open Access Fund
The University makes Open Access funding available for those whose research has not been externally funded. The fund is made available in August each year and is allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis by the Open Access Team in the Library until the fund is exhausted.
The fund is limited and so we ask researchers to make use of it in a fair and equitable way. Authors should ideally not have more than five pending requests at any one time, apart from in exceptional circumstances.
If your article is not accepted, please notify the Open Access Team so that the money that was committed for your publication can be freed up for other researchers to use.
Article Processing Charges for the following publication types can usually be funded:
- Original research journal articles
- Non-commissioned review articles
- Conference proceedings
- Case reports
- Monographs (where the book will only be published if it is published on an open access basis)
Other publication charges (e.g. page or colur charges) are not eligible for the fund, and would need to be covered by your department.
Eligibility criteria:
- The publication must be in a Fully Open Access journal listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- The corresponding author must be a researcher at the University of Liverpool (staff member or PGR student) and their affiliation must be the University of Liverpool.
- We cannot use the fund for those on honorary contracts.
- The output cannot have already been published.
- The output must be made available with the CC-BY licence.
- When submitting to a fully open access journal (see the Directory of Open Access Journals), a Gold Open Access Request form must be completed prior to submission.
UKRI block grant
UKRI provides the University with a block grant to cover the costs of Open Access for research outputs acknowledging funding from the Research Councils. The money is paid to the University every April and is allocated throughout the year by the Open Access Team in the Library.
Article Processing Charges for the following publication types can usually be funded:
- Original research journal articles
- Review articles
- Case reports
- Conference proceedings
Other publication charges (e.g. page or colur charges) are not eligible for the fund, and would need to be covered by your department.
Eligibility criteria:
- The publication must be in a Fully Open Access journal listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) or meet the UKRI requirements of transformative journals.
- Research Council funding must be properly acknowledged in the output.
- The corresponding author must be a researcher at the University of Liverpool (staff member or PGR student), or the grant must be held here.
- We cannot use the fund for those on honorary contracts.
- The output cannot have already been published.
- The output must be made available with the CC-BY licence.
- When submitting to a fully open access journal (see the Directory of Open Access Journals), a Gold Open Access Request form must be completed prior to submission.
Wellcome Trust Fund
The University receives a block grant from the Wellcome Trust to cover the cost of Open Access for publications arising from research funded either wholly or in part from Wellcome Trust funding. Funding is received in October and allocated throughout the year by the Open Access Team in the Library.
Article Processing Charges for the following publication types can usually be funded:
- Original research journal articles
- Review articles
- Case reports
- Conference proceedings
Other publication charges (e.g. page or colur charges) are not eligible for the fund, and would need to be covered by your department.
Eligibility criteria:- The publication must be in a Fully Open Access journal listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- The publication must be reporting on research funded either wholly or in part by the Wellcome Trust
- The corresponding author must be a researcher at the University of Liverpool (staff member or PGR student) or the grant holder must be based here.
- We cannot use the fund for those on honorary contracts.
- The output cannot have already been published.
- The output must be made available with the CC-BY licence.
- When submitting to a fully open access journal (see the Directory of Open Access Journals), a Gold Open Access Request form must be completed prior to submission.
The fund cannot be used to pay APCs in hybrid journals.
How to apply
Please follow the steps on our How to make your work Open Access page prior to submission to your chosen journal. Confirmation from the Open Research Team that your request can be funded along with a Purchase Order number is required before the publisher issues any invoice.