Article Processing Charge (APC) Discounts available through Robertson Library (open access publishing)

Through the Robertson Library's participation in the Canadian Research Knowledge Network to purchase journal subscriptions, and other deals, faculty, students, and staff are eligible for discounts on Article Processing Charges (APCs) associated with publishing open access (OA) journal articles! APCs are fees that an author pays to a journal to have their article published free to the world as open access. A journal may be fully open access ("gold OA") or a "hybrid" journal, in which articles are behind a paywall unless authors pay an APC to make their article publically available. 

Why should I pay an APC to publish my article as open access?

According to a 2021 systematic review in PLoS ONE, the plurality (47.8%) of studies reviewed confirmed the existence of an open access citation advantage, which is the increased citation of articles made available open access.

Questions? Contact your subject librarian.

To learn specific details about APC discounts available to UPEI faculty, students, and staff, click the publisher listed below. The same information is also available at https://www.crkn-rcdr.ca/en/crkn-negotiated-apc-discounts.

Related files:

CRKN-Elsevier_2024-2026_Eligible Hybrid & Gold Titles_2023-12-14.xlsx
CRKN-Oxford_2024-2026_Title List_2023-12-13.xlsx
CRKN-SAGE_2024-2026_Title List_2023-12-07 (1).xlsx

  • American Chemical Society

    • $250.00 flat discount through the CRKN consortial journal package subscription.
    • Only applies to journals in which UPEI currently subscribes to in that package (which is most but not all ACS journals).
    • ACS calls this their "Author Choice" Open Access service
    • Authors must identify their institutional affiliation in order to qualify for the discount.
  • Cambridge University Press (CUP)

    As of January 1, 2022, corresponding authors affiliated with CRKN participating members will be able to publish an unlimited number of their articles as open access in Cambridge hybrid and gold journals at no charge for the duration of the agreement. The following five article types are included in this Open Access publishing portion of this agreement:

    • Research Articles
    • Review Articles
    • Rapid Communication
    • Brief Reports
    • Case Reports

    As of January 2024, UPEI researchers will be able to publish their articles OA in “Cambridge Prisms” and “Research Directions” journals for free in 2024 at no additional charge.

    Cambridge uses an automated system, RightsLink, to associate authors with their affiliated institutions. Participating members can configure their institutional dashboards to automatically apply the APC waiver to authors. A step-by-step guide is available at https://www.crkn-rcdr.ca/sites/crkn/files/2022-01/Step-by-Step-Guide-to-Publishing-OA-2021-V2.pdf.

  • Elsevier ScienceDirect (100% discount on hybrid as of 2024!)

    For January 2024 - December 2026:

    Hybrid Open Access - 100% discount (aka free)

    Authors affiliated with participating CRKN members will be eligible for unlimited open access publishing in over 1,800 Elsevier Hybrid journals with no Article Processing Charge (APC), including in 165 Core Hybrid Specialty titles that are new to the CRKN agreement. 

    Additionally, as a measure to ensure the ongoing eligibility of journals, any titles that convert from Hybrid to Fully Gold OA within the term of the agreement will remain eligible for the full APC waiver. 

     Eligibility for the APC waivers in Core Hybrid and Specialty titles is effective upon acceptance of articles beginning on January 1, 2024. Authors will be notified of their eligibility upon acceptance of their article in an eligible journal and their declaration of their affiliation with a participating CRKN member institution. Authors will select an affiliation from an autocomplete list populated by Ringgold IDs and will be able to select either CC-BY or CC-BY- NC-ND licenses, with a default selection of CC-BY. 

    Gold Open Access  - 20% discount continues

    CRKN-affiliated authors publishing in Elsevier’s Gold Open Access journals will continue to benefit from a 20% discount on their APCs in 2024, 15% in 2025 and 2026, and 10% in 2027. Journals eligible for the Gold OA APC discount are specified on tab three (“Core Gold APC Discount Eligible”) of the title list.

    Title lists for hybrid and Gold OA discounts are above the list of deals on this page, under "Related files".

    Note: some journals charge a separate "submission fee" to authors - that fee is not included in the CRKN deal and still needs to be paid by the authors.

    For more information, visit CRKN website at https://www.crkn-rcdr.ca/en/crkn-negotiated-apc-discounts.

  • Institute of Physics (IOP)

    As of December 15, 2021, corresponding authors affiliated with CRKN institutions participating in the CRKN-IOP Open Access agreement will be able to publish an unlimited number of their articles under an open access license in select IOP hybrid and gold journals at no charge for the duration of the agreement. The following article types are included in the Open Access publishing portion of this agreement (intended to cover all original research and review-type content):

    • Paper
    • Special Issue Paper
    • Review
    • Letter

    Please note that there are a select few journals for which IOP cannot offer an open access option that are excluded at this time.
    Authors submit articles to IOP using Scholar1, which includes an autofill field for corresponding authors to indicate their affiliation. Using Ringgold IDs, these affiliations will then be connected to CRKN participating institutions to capture all eligible articles under this agreement. 

  • MDPI (non-CRKN)

    • Institutional member
    • Receive 10% discount on APCs through this publisher.

    This is not a CRKN deal, so contact your librarian for more information.

  • Oxford U Press Journals (new for 2024!)

    During the term of the 2024-2026 CRKN agreement, UPEI scholars will be able to select to have their articles OA in over 350 Oxford "hybrid" journals for free (100% discount on APC charge.) There is also a 10% discount on the OA charges for OUP's "Gold" OA journals.

    The lists of hybrid and gold journals eligible for this offer, along with a list of ineligible titles, is above the list of deals on this page (under "Related files").

    Eligibility for the APC waivers in Core Hybrid and Specialty titles is effective upon acceptance of articles beginning on February 1, 2024. Authors will be notified of their eligibility upon acceptance of their article in an eligible journal and their declaration of their affiliation with a participating CRKN member institution. Authors will select an affiliation from an autocomplete list populated by Ringgold IDs and will be able to select either CC-BY or CC-BY-NC-ND licenses, with a default selection of CC-BY.

  • Royal Society of Chemistry

    Timeframe: 2022-2024

    Corresponding authors affiliated with an institution participating in the CRKN agreement are eligible to receive a 15% discount on the article processing charge (APC) for all RSC hybrid journals. The APC discount is applied upon acceptance of manuscript. Authors must indicate their institutional affiliation upon submitting their manuscript in order to benefit from the discount.

    There is no intervention (or validation) required by library staff for this agreement. Once an eligible article is identified via the author's affiliation, the discount will automatically be applied before the author is invoiced.

  • Sage Journals

    • Starting January 1, 2021, all authors affiliated with CRKN institutions that are participating in the CRKN-SAGE Premier Open Access agreement will be able to publish articles in SAGE Choice journals under an open access license with no associated Article Processing Charge (APC).
    • CRKN-affiliated authors may publish their articles as open access in over 900 SAGE Choice journals (journals excluded from SAGE Choice are listed here).
    • Authors may also use a 40% APC discount to publish in SAGE’s gold open access journals. See the title list of participating gold journals.
    • To facilitate open access publishing, processing of the APC waiver for SAGE Choice journals and the discount for gold open access journals is done automatically via the SAGE Open Access Portal (SOAP) when corresponding authors identify themselves as affiliated to a participating CRKN institution. 
    • More information about how to use SAGE Open Access Portal for gold open access journals.
    • See title list of all titles eligible now , linked under "Related files" above and note the different tabs in it
  • Taylor & Francis Journals

    • 25% discount on APC fees for all Open Select Taylor & Francis journals
    • To take advantage of the discount, an author can submit an article and choose the open access publishing option. When the APC fee is generated, authors select their institution from the drop-down menu, and the discount will be automatically applied. The author can select a Creative Commons license to sign once they accept the quote. Visit Taylor & Francis' website for further details on the process.
  • Wiley

    During the term of the 2023-2024 agreement, eligible articles accepted for publication in Wiley’s hybrid journals [Excel spreadsheet] by corresponding authors affiliated with participating CRKN institutions may be published under an open access license (if chosen by the author) with no APC charged to the author or the library/institution. There are no limitations placed on the number of eligible articles that can be published in hybrid journals during the term of this agreement.

    Articles accepted for publication in Wiley’s gold journals are not eligible under this agreement. Authors will continue to be charged APCs for accepted articles in these journals.

    Eligible article types are: case study, commentary, data article, education, lecture, method and protocol, perspective, practice and policy, rapid publication, research article, review article, short communication, and technical note.

    Publishing Rights begin on January 15, 2023, in order to permit Wiley sufficient time to create and customize institutional accounts and configure the platform, etc. Regrettably, authors that complete the Author Services process prior to January 15, 2023, will not qualify for eligibility.

    More information is available on the Wiley website for the Open Access agreement for eligible authors at participating CRKN institutions in Canada