Open Access Fund

Funding Support for Open Access Publishing

Open access publishing offers wider dissemination, higher visibility, and faster discovery of published research. The UC Davis Library offers support to encourage authors to publish open access.

Fund Description

The UC Davis Open Access Fund is a library reimbursement program that supports members of the UC Davis academic community who want to make their journal articles or book chapters free to all readers immediately upon publication. 

The Open Access Fund began as a pilot in October 2012, with initial funding from the California Digital Library (CDL). The UC Davis Library continues to provide these funds to UC Davis authors interested in publishing open access. The library tracks how the funds are spent, and the success and sustainability of the fund continues to be evaluated. Its chief goals are to foster greater dissemination of the work of UC Davis scholars and encourage author control of copyright.

UC Davis is one of two UC campus libraries that offer an open access publishing fund.

Eligibility Requirements

Any corresponding author with a UC Davis affiliation is eligible for the fund (faculty, graduate students, residents, staff, etc.) The fund will reimburse authors with up to $1,000 per article for Article Processing Charges (APCs), a.k.a. open access fees, or for fees paid to publish open access book chapters in full open access edited volumes.

All applicants must have:

• A valid University Common Funds Number 13U00 at the time of application. If you don’t have such an account, please contact your department’s financial administrator.

All funded works must be:

• Published in full open access journals or in full open access books;
  • Note: Articles in full open access journals that are covered under one of the University of California open access agreements with academic publishers will not be supported by the UC Davis Open Access Fund.
• New (effective January 1, 2025): Published by a UC Davis affiliated corresponding author;
• New (effective January 1, 2025): Published in a journal that is indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ);
• Either (1) published no earlier than 12 months prior to, or (2) have an anticipated publication date within 6 months of, the UC Davis Open Access Fund application date; and
• Made freely available at the time of initial publication, with no embargo periods.

New (effective January 1, 2025): Funding is limited to two articles per applicant in a fiscal year (for the current fiscal year, this will apply starting January 1, 2025; in subsequent years, it will apply to the entire fiscal year).

Proof of acceptance/publication must be provided (i.e., copy of acceptance letter/email or link to published full text).

Note: These funds do not cover color charges, page charges, illustration charges, submission charges, or other publishing related cost.

Application Procedures

Step 1: Apply

Please click on the link below and fill in the online application form. We will let you know if the application is approved, if you need to provide proof of acceptance of the article (unless you have done so in your application), or if the article is not eligible for support.

Apply for the Open Access Fund

Note: To complete the online application, applicants must enter a valid University Common Funds Number 13U00. If you have any questions regarding the fund string, please contact your Department Financial Contact.

Step 2: Approval

Though you can apply any time, we will approve the application only after receiving proof of acceptance for publication. You can forward the publisher’s acceptance email or provide a link to the published article in your application.

Step 3: Reimbursement

Once we have received proof of acceptance, the approved funds will be disbursed via interdepartmental transfer, to the University Common Funds Number 13U00 you provided in your application. Our Finance Department will use the financial contact you provided in your application form, and will usually process the transaction within 10 to 15 business days.

Frequently Asked Questions