Open Access Article Processing Charges: Overview and Resources

Learn How to Apply for the UNLV Open Article Fund

To apply for funds, review the eligibility criteria below and then complete the online application form. Log in with your UNLV ACE account to access the form. 

To apply, you will need:

• To review the eligibility criteria below (updated August 2025)

• Information about you (contact information, affiliation with UNLV, role on article)

• Information about the article for which you are seeking funding (title of article, journal, co-authors)

• Funding amount requested

• Whether you have remaining grant funds to cover all or part of the APC (as applicable)

• To confirm agreement with the following:

  • To place a copy of the final published work in the UNLV repository

  • To acknowledge in the article that “The publication fees for this article were supported by the UNLV University Libraries Open Article Fund."

  • That neither you nor your co-authors have grant funding that supports article processing charges for this publication.

  • That this research was completed in the capacity of your employment at UNLV.

  • That you have not yet paid the APC (we do not reimburse authors for payments already made)

Ready to Apply?

Please complete the application form.  Log in with your UNLV ACE account to access the form.

Who Can Apply for Funding?

The person requesting open access funds must:

• Be employed in one of the following positions:
  • Tenured faculty
  • Tenure-track faculty
  • Postdoctoral Scholars
  • Research faculty (as defined in UNLV Bylaws 18.3.4)
  • Instructors (Rank 1, UNLV Bylaws 16.3)
  • Faculty-in-Residence (New in Fall 2025)
• Not have received an award within the last 12 months
• Not have a research grant that can otherwise fully support the APC
• Not be a Law School faculty member since the funds for this program come from the UNLV University Libraries collection budget.

Additionally, first time applicants will get preference for funding when the remaining balance in the fund cannot support all outstanding applications. Requests for funding will still be reviewed as they come in.

Which Publications are Eligible?

Journal Criteria

This fund will support scholarly articles to be published in fully open access peer reviewed journals. The fund does not cover articles to be published in hybrid journals (where only some content is open access), books, book chapters, magazines, or other types of publications.

Finding a Fully Open Access Journal and Avoiding Predatory Journals

Most successful fund applications are for journals included in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

If the journal is not in the DOAJ, the journal and publisher must still demonstrate strong ethical standards in alignment with the “Principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing (“the principles”). The principles are supported by DOAJ so it will be unusual for a journal not in DOAJ to meet these standards.

If a journal appears predatory for any reason, despite adhering to some of the principles and/or being included in the DOAJ, the request for funds will be declined.

Additionally:

• Journals that have been withdrawn from the DOAJ are not eligible
• Journals must clearly display (from the principles):
  • Fees charged and for what purpose (e.g. article processing charges, page charges, color charges, indexing charges*). *the fund only supports article processing charges
  • Licensing terms on the full text of all published articles (HTML and PDF)
  • Content designated as Open Access must use an open license. (including article versions as PDFs, HTML, etc.)
  • Peer review type, policies, and at least high-level peer review procedures
• Questionable journals may also be reviewed against OA Scholarly Publishing Association membership criteria

Article Criteria

• Articles with a status of ready for submission, submitted, or accepted are eligible. Articles already published and articles still being drafted are not eligible.
• Additionally, articles based on grant funding where grant monies can support APCs are not eligible.

Role of the Repository

Final articles must be added to the University’s open access repository. University Libraries Staff will coordinate this process.

Acknowledgements

The article must acknowledge the University Libraries using the following (or similar) text:

“The publication fees for this article were supported by the UNLV University Libraries Open Article Fund.”

Award Limitations

• The maximum amount per article is $2,000 and is to be used only for article processing charges. The award does not support color, image, or page charges.
• First-time applicants will get preference for funding. Applications are typically processed on a first come first serve basis. First time applicants will be prioritized when the UNLV Open Article Fund balance is low and multiple applications are under review. 
• Due to limited funds, each author is limited to one award every 12 months.

Decision Authority

The Libraries Scholarly Communication and Data Services Department will review UNLV Open Article Fund applications. Funding requests meeting the criteria described above will be approved until the funds are expended. If the department is unsure the criteria is being met, the Libraries Collection Committee will assist in the review. The content and topic of the article for which funding is being sought is not considered in the review.

Decision Timeline

While we expect to have a much faster turnaround time, please allow two weeks for a response to your application. Applications will be reviewed as they are received, in the order they are received.

Paying Invoices

Awarded authors should send the publisher’s invoice directly to digitalscholarship@unlv.edu for payment. The Libraries will process the payment as quickly as possible. 

If Your Award Does Not Cover the Entire APC

The maximum award for this fund is $2,000. For awards that only partially cover the full article processing charge, you will need to provide the following when you forward your invoice:

• Workday Program Code
• Spend Category

Reimbursements and Partial Invoice Payments are not Allowed

• The University Libraries do not reimburse individual authors
• UNLV does not allow partial payments to be made on invoices

Time to Payment

• Invoices typically take 30 days to be processed for payment by UNLV Accounts Payable. Library staff enter them for payment within a few business days of receipt.

NSHE Suppliers Database

• Publishers that are not already registered as an NSHE supplier will need to register.  

Articles Supported by the Fund