Open Access Publishing Fund for Emerging Researchers - Pilot

****The HHSL Open Access Publishing Fund is currently closed****

Depending on the outcome of pending awards, we may be able to reopen the fund throughout the year.  Please check back for availability and consider other ways to publish your work open access.

The Hirsh Health Sciences Library’s (HHSL) Open Access Publishing Fund aims to improve access to research produced at Tufts University by covering open access (OA) article processing charges (APC).  In particular, the fund will:

• Promote publishing by Boston Health Sciences Campus graduate students and early-career staff and faculty
• Enable authors to retain their copyright
• Accelerate the online availability of peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles
• Raise awareness about the benefits of open access

There is a limited budget for this pilot project.  Funds cover:

• Direct OA expenses (e.g., not administrative fees, the cost of reprints, color illustration fees, non-OA page charges, web hosting for self-archiving, etc.).
• APCs up to a maximum of $3,000
• One publication per applicant per fiscal year
• One award per publication, must be spent within 12 months of receiving award

Individuals who meet all of the following requirements may apply:

• Members of the Tufts Community with their primary Tufts affiliation being on the Boston Health Sciences campus, which includes those with clinical faculty appointments at Tufts School of Medicine
• Faculty, students, and staff, in particular, students, postdocs, fellows, residents, clinical faculty, and non-tenure track faculty are encouraged to apply
• No sources of funding to cover publishing fees, including from co-authors

Eligible publications will have the following characteristics:

• 100% open access (e.g., hybrid publications, where some content is OA and other requires a subscription to view will not be considered)
• Distribution rights retained by the author
• Demonstrated adherence to Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) Code of Conduct
• Publicly available standard fee schedule
• Policy to substantially waive fees in case of economic hardship
• Manuscripts can be at any stage of publication, i.e., pre-submission, submitted, accepted

• Complete the application form.
• Ask Us any questions or for clarifications. 
• Applications are considered on a rolling, first-come, first-served basis until funds are depleted.
• Expect award status notification typically within one or two weeks of submission.
• Successful applicants submit OA invoices to Tufts Libraries, who pay publishers directly.

Award funds are forfeited if the following conditions are not met:

• Awarded publications must include a statement of acknowledgement such as, “Funding for open access was provided by Tufts University Hirsh Health Sciences Library’s Open Access Fund.”
• Awarded applicants must list a Tufts University or Tufts Medicine address as their author affiliation in the publication.
• Manuscript must be submitted to a verified preprint server such as medRxiv,  applying a CC-0 or  CC-BY license.  Any exceptions must be discussed with library staff.
• The published version, or if need be the author's final version, must be deposited in the Tufts Digital Library, where it will be made openly-available alongside other Tufts scholarship.
• Awards must be spent within twelve months of receipt.